Massachusetts Daily Collegian: April 11, 2016

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Divest UMass to rally Monday

Playing all the right cards

Group hosts direct action training

By STuarT FoSTer Collegian Staff

ERICA LOWENKRON/COLLEGIAN

Thomas Le plays cards at a weekly meeting of the Card Game Club Sunday evening.

The University of Massachusetts Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign will hold a rally outside of the Student Union on Monday at 12 p.m.

Mica Reel, a core team member of the Divest UMass group, said they hope the Board of Trustees will release a statement committing to take the UMass endowment fund out of the top 200 publically traded fossil fuel companies.

“At this point, this campaign’s been going on for three years and they have not responded with the urgency that the crisis demands they respond with,” said Reel, a sophomore studying anthropology and BDIC. Reel added that the

Board of Trustees should reinvest the endowment money in the UMass community and in sustainable environmental solutions, as well as release a comprehensive reinvestment plan by this June.

Last semester the UMass Foundation, which oversees the UMass System’s endowment systems, announced their divestment from coal companies.

“They divested from coal so we don’t understand why they can’t just divest the rest,” Reel said.

According to Reel, after having meetings with the Board of Trustees, getting more students and faculty involved and having petitions signed for UMass to divest from oil and natural gas endowments, the rally has become necessary to ensure the campaign’s goals are met.

Reel said that the rally see

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Almost $70K raised for childhood cancer research Sun. UMPD, Alpha Delta Phi hosted the event

area, as locks of hair fell to the ground in the front foyer. Raffle tickets were sold throughout the restaurant, offering prizes from gift cards to authentic New England Patriots seats at Gillette Stadium.

By HannaH Tran-TrinH Collegian Correspondent Attendees were there in support of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for A crowd of people came through childhood cancer research as the the doors of the Hangar Pub & University of Massachusetts Police Grill shortly after opening at 11 Department and Alpha Delta Phi a.m. Sunday. fraternity held its seventh annuBoisterous, bass-heavy covers al Amherst fundraiser and head of Guns ‘N Roses and the Beatles shaving event. played from the front of the restauAfter six successful years at rant, performed by local Hadley Rafter’s Sport’s Bar, raising a total band West Summit. A sea of bright of $425,000, Sergeant Matt Malo, green T-shirts surrounded the bar one of the lead organizers for

the event, said the organizations decided to move over to the newly expanded Hangar Pub & Grill across the street.

“People go out, raise money and get their heads shaved in solidarity for kids who are losing their hair because of treatment so they don’t feel weird, they don’t feel different and they realize that it’s okay,” Malo explained.

Tim Willis of Northampton served as the event’s host and emcee.

“I lost my dad to cancer two years ago,” said Willis, “and it’s one of those things that everyone is touched by. Life is a really good

gift and I surely believe in giving back.”

Volunteer barbers from Matt’s Barber Shop in downtown Amherst helped shave over 150 heads, including local Peter Cowles.

Four years ago, Cowles began auctioning off the potential color of his bare head to the highest bidder for the fundraiser. Last year, his entire freshly buzzed head was stained with bright pink hues. This year, one of his former classmates donated $200 and requested that he shave the school’s varsity letter onto the back of his head.

“St. Baldrick’s is second to the U.S. government for raising money

for childhood cancer research,” said Malo. “We raise all of this money, from head shaving, the raffles and everything else, and every last penny goes back to St. Baldrick’s. They then send all of it back out to any research facility trying to find a cure for childhood cancer, not only in the United States, but worldwide.”

At press time, Randy Pollis, a UMass sophomore and member of Alpha Delta Phi, said the event had raised close to $70,000.

Hannah Tran-Trinh can be reached at htrantrinh@umass.edu.

Speaker focuses Students ‘Stand Agaist Racism’ at UM Activists talk race, on women, Islam campus climate and equality Fri. Talk hosted in CHC Events Hall By racHeL WaLMan Collegian Staff

Naiyerah Kolkailah, a graduate of a two-year program in Islamic studies from Doha, Qatar, spoke on issues related to Islam, including women and Islam in America on Friday evening. The talk took place in the Commonwealth Honors Events Hall as part of Islam Awareness Month.

Kolkailah first told the audience a story, describing a time a woman came up to her at a grocery store and asking if she advocated for Sharia law (Islamic law) in the U.S. Kolkailah said she asked the woman what Sharia law meant to her. The answer?

“The oppression of women.”

Kolkailah explained that “there’s a lot of people, still, (who) tend to conflate gov-

ernmental laws with religious teachings and religious rulings, and it’s important to be able to distinguish those from each other.”

She added that this can be particularly problematic in societies like the U.S. as “people who don’t have personal interactions with the Muslim community, as well as people who haven’t visited a mosque or haven’t been to a Muslim majority country…tend to be consumed by the media’s portrayal of Muslims, and the sweeping generalizations about Islam and Muslims.”

Kolkailah reminded the audience that about onefourth of the world’s population practices Islam.

She said that people often see the oppression of women as a very serious problem for countries where Muslims are the majority.

“In terms of women’s roles and their status in society, see

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Editor’s Note: This story was originally published online April 9.

By Lia GippS and dan MaHoney Collegian Staff The Racial Justice Coalition of the University of Massachusetts hosted an all-day event titled “Stand Against Racism” to discuss anti-racism and anti-white supremacy student activism on college campuses.

Beginning with a march for racial justice, attendees gathered at the Student Union and walked together to the Commonwealth Honors College events hall for a panel of student activists from University of Missouri’s #Concer nedStudent1950, Amherst College and UMass.

The panel focused on campus climates regarding anti-black racism, and featured students’ personal experiences with systemic racism, their activism and advice for white allies.

“We shut down the school, or at least part of it,” said DeShaunya Ware,

a social work and black studies student from Concerned Student 1950 at the University of Missouri.

“After the football players went on strike, they tried to force the football players to play, but they couldn’t do that.”

“I mean, the football field is the new plantation field, the new sales block,” she said to an audience that snapped in approval.

UMass BDIC student Zulay Holland moderated the panel of seven. She asked panel members about topics ranging from their personal experiences with racism to individual strategies in promoting and engaging in activism on college campus.

Ware and Marshall Allen, Missouri students and leaders of #Concer nedStudent1950, talked in-depth about their experiences at the university in the aftermath of black teenager Michael Brown’s fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Allen, a political science and black studies double major, described the campus climate at Missouri as “tough,” explaining sepa-

ERICA LOWENKRON/COLLEGIAN

Students march through campus as part of all day event Friday. rate instances of anti-black protests. These included cotton balls thrown around the grounds as well as swastikas and racial slurs written on doors and in student areas.

Allen noted that the prevalence of media on campus following the actions of CS1950 helped to highlight and uncover racism that had been previously avoided by the campus community and administration.

Ware, a St. Louis native, talked in-depth about the proximity of Ferguson to the Missouri campus and the effect that those protests had

on the general campus community.

“Coming from St. Louis as well, which is 15 minutes from Ferguson, I was close to the whole event,” Ware said, later adding her own experiences with the protests in Ferguson. “I was in the tear gas, I remember having an asthma attack and fearing for my life.”

Ware noted MU for Mike Brown, an activist group at Missouri, as being one of the first organizations that really worked to address the clisee

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, April 11, 2016

THE RUNDOWN ON THIS DAY...

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

AROUND THE WORLD

India An unauthorized fireworks show at a temple in the southern Indian state of Kerala Sunday sparked a fire that killed at least 106 people and injured more than 300, officials said.

The fire broke out at about 3:30 a.m. local time in the crowded precincts of the Puttingal temple in the coastal town of Peravoor, where thousands had gathered to see the fireworks display celebrating a local festival, said A Shainamol, a Kollam senior district official.

Shainamol said the Kollam district authorities had refused permission to the organizers of the fireworks display and the temple to hold the show because it violated safety regulations.

A spark from a burning firecracker landed on a stockpile of fireworks and set them ablaze, leading to several explosions in the crowded grounds of the temple, said Kerala’s chief minister, Oomen Chandy.

The concrete building where the fireworks were stored came crashing down, injuring the crowds milling around it,IANS news agency reported. The temple administration building near it was also destroyed.

Many victims were hurt people ran away. As many as 10,000 people were gathered in the temple grounds at the time, which had narrow exits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew into Kollam with a team of 15 doctors specializing in trauma and burn injurie to assist at the overflowing hospitals.

“The doctors told me that some of the explosions were so powerful that heads were separated from the body,” Modi said after visiting the injured in hospital.

Police filed charges against the temple authorities and the operators of the fireworks’ displays.

By evening, the police had detained five employees of a contractor who were reportedly responsible for the fireworks show, IANS reported.

A man and his son, who run the contracting business, were hospitalized with serious burns.

Indian religious festivals are often celebrated with the bursting of firecrackers and accidents associated with this practice are not uncommon. dpa

DailyCollegian.com

SJP hosts Palestinian education barriers talk Students discuss personal experience

By Rhiannon Snide Collegian Correspondent A group of about 30 students gathered in the University of Massachusetts’ Campus Center Thursday to hear how Israeli colonialism has shaped education in Palestine from two current Palestinian university students.

Bayan Abosalameh, a 19-year-old mechanical engineering major at Birzeit University, and Ramsis Hijazi, a 23-year-old computer science major at An-Najah National University, serve as volunteers for the Right to Education Tour. They travelled to the U.S. to share their firsthand accounts of educational suppression within Palestine.

“We are just delivering the truth; delivering the message that we should have the right to education,” stated Hijazi. “We are delivering the message of our fellow classmates and teachers in Palestine.”

UMass is one of the many stops within this nationwide campaign attempting to build solidarity between the U.S. and Palestine. The event was sponsored by

RACISM

UMass’ Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization focused on the education of and activism to stop thehuman rights violations facing the Palestinian people human rights violations facing the Palestinian people.

“We’re (SJP) a fish in the pond at UMass, and UMass is just one university within all of the United States, but I like to think we are a part of something that could create change, especially considering the influence that the United States has on this conflict,” said Tom Wagner, a freshman SJP member studying Spanish.

Thursday’s discussion provided personal accounts of the educational suppression and inequality Palestinian students of all ages face due to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

According to the students, checkpoints throughout Palestine prevent students from getting to school on time (or at all), raids and gas bombs often interrupt classroom sessions, closing of schools for “security reasons” can prolong or, in some cases, end students’ education and censored curriculums prohibit readings such as Socrates, Plato and specific Palestinian-related readings.

“Everything related

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mate of racism at the school.

Crediting the group as being part of the force that birthed the #ConcernedStudent1950 movement, Ware described the development of activism that not only sought to bring consciousness to their white classmates but also disrupt campus activity to start conversation.

“We started with die-ins, hoping that through us laying for minutes at a time would allow white students to better understand the issue of police brutality as it related to us,” Ware said.

“You have to imagine the pain that we feel,” Ware added, referencing the groups expectations of white students on campus, “but when that wasn’t working we knew we had to be more disruptive.”

Amherst College activists Lerato Teffo and Isabella Berkley focused primarily on the Amherst Uprising, a sit-in held at the Frost Library last semester that prompted a number of changes at the college regarding racism and diversity.

Teffo, an organizer of the sit-in, described feelings of frustration and alienation with campus climate and administrative support as being the primary motivation for the event.

“It started at midnight with a frustrated conversation,” Teffo said. “And it resulted in a Facebook event and us sending emails to administrators informing them of what we were going to do.”

The response to the event was surprising to Teffo and her fellow activists, as what was expected to be a display of public frustration led to a three-day sit-in at the library that resulted in a multitude of changes at the college.

Panel member Ellanjé Ferguson, a UMass senior studying journalism and communications, recently published a story in the Amherst Wire titled Whiteout, about black students’ experiences at UMass. The story, which has been shared 3,700 times on Facebook since publication in late February, has been assigned as reading

by African-American studies classes at UMass, and earned Ferguson invitations to speak to multiple classes.

“It’s amazing to know that my work is getting read like that,” said Ferguson in response to an audience question about times she has been asked to do emotional labor for free. “And also, pay me. I haven’t seen a cent from that.”

Zareb Noel, a UMass mechanical engineering student, spoke to his own experiences of a less-thandiverse school staff.

“There needs to be an increase in faculty of color.

In the engineering department, there is one professor of color,” Noel said.

All of the panel members agreed upon the greater goal of their individual and conjoined activism as being liberation through increases in diversity, inclusion and tolerance. In order to achieve this, many on the panel discussed the need to not only increase the consciousness of their white peers, but also to validate the experiences that students of color have on college campuses.

After the panel, the event divided into two affinity groups, one for people of color and the other for white people.

“Last semester we had a forum to discuss this, to find out what the students wanted,” Wilma Crespo, associate director of student development at the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success, said.

“What they wanted was to engage with people of similar lived experiences around these issues.”

Organizers requested that the content of the breakout meetings stay confidential and unreported.

After nearly two hours of discussion, behind schedule, the two groups reunited to watch Shaha, UMass’ social justice theater group, perform three skits on the themes of diversity and multiculturalism.

“It always goes over the allotted time,” said Gaelle Rigaud, a sophomore student of English and AfricanAmerican Studies. “You can’t just talk about white supremacy in two hours.”

Lia Gips is a staff member at the DailyCollegian and can be reached at lgips@umass.edu, and followed @liagips. Dan Mahoney contributed to this report and can be reached at dpmahoney@umass.edu.

JESSICA PICARD/COLLEGIAN

Palestinian students share their personal experiences from living in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. to Palestine, the word ‘Palestine,’ the maps, anything nationalistic about Palestine was completely removed,” Hijazi said. “(The) Israeli commission has put some restriction on the materials that we have in Palestine, so chemical substances, mechanical devices and other sorts (of) things (are) missing from my university campus,” Abosalameh added. “This means I’m not getting the

ISLAM

same quality of education that any mechanical engineering major would have here.”

The presentation also included a video of a school teacher attempting to deliver her lesson to elementary students at one of the many checkpoints within Palestine.

Members of the audience appeared shocked as the video displayed footage of the woman being harassed

and hit over the head by Israeli soldiers in an attempt to stop the lecture.

“We’re really trying to get the word out about what’s happening in Palestine so that next year we can run a campaign for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions),” said Joshua Strassman, vice president of UMass SJP. Rhiannon Snide can be reached at rsnide@umass.edu.

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that is a subject of contention, not only in the Muslim world, but it’s been a subject of issues related to power struggles and debates and conflicts throughout history and throughout many different civilizations,” Kolkailah said. “When women across cultures are marginalized and objectified and discriminated against, it’s important to see and identify the social structures that can actually cause women to be relegated to certain spheres and not have a voice and influence in society.”

Kolkailah also discussed the perception of Muslim women in the contemporary world.

“There is a combination of things that affects your own paradigm and your own perception of women. Now if you take this in general, and globalize it to the worldwide Muslim population, you will find that across the Muslim world, there’s a very diverse range of views as to who women should be, what their roles are, whether or not they can get an education, how they should be dressing,” she said. “It’s impossible for us to lump them all together (when there are) 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.”

Kolkailah addressed sweeping misconceptions

of Muslim women and how their religion regards them.

She gave the example of pre-Islamic Arabia, where women were seen as inferior to men.

Islam began to combat this, Kolkailah said, by prohibiting female infanticide and “mandated seeking knowledge for all men and women.”

“It’s through that education that you’re able to address and get at social structures,” she said.

Kolkailah told the audience that, “The Prophet Muhammad said ‘seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim, male and female.’”

According to her, Islam gave women independence, property rights, and acknowledged unique femininity and personalities.

“Islam promotes modesty and respectful interaction, because that’s actually what allows the men and women to collaborate together in the purest of forms,” Kolkailah stated.

However, Kolkailah said Muslim countries don’t live up to the entirety of the equality promise, adding that it is up to women to work with allies to make changes to reach equality.

During a question and answer period, Kolkailah

was asked where in the Muslim world women have achieved the most parity.

Kolkailah replied that women have headed governments in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

“It’s also important to respect those different cultures,” Kolkailah added.

“Maybe they might not feel that they are limited in terms of their freedoms or access to education, but it takes a different cultural form than we think. The Western standard is not necessarily the ideal, primary standard for the entire world, and it’s important to appreciate and understand the different cultures.”

Kolkailah ended her lecture saying, “You have to make a decision, because Islam is being attacked.

The Islamophobia industry right now is huge… Are we going to assimilate and drop our faith, and not have that strong Islamic identity or assurance in how we want to live our lives? Or are we going to embrace it and try to understand it, and see it as a divine revelation that is giving us a way to live a successful life, in this life and the next?”

Rachel Walman can be reached at rwalman@umass.edu.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

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Monday, April 11, 2016

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Vote for Boehner poses challenge for GA representative Loudermilk hopes to rewin seat in Congress

By Tamar Hallerman The Atlanta Journal–Constitution WASHINGTON — The very first vote Barry Loudermilk made as a member of Congress is now one of the main reasons he faces not one, but four opponents in May’s Republican primary.

His GOP colleague, Doug Collins, voted the same way on the House floor and also has four primary opponents, including former U.S. Rep. Paul Broun.

In the open race for Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District, this one vote is being held up as a kind of litmus test for many voters.

Their blunder? Voting for John Boehner to be re–elected speaker of the U.S. House in January 2015. Now their challengers want to make them pay.

While statewide incumbents such as U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson escaped the anti–establishment surge, congressional members closest to the electorate have quickly learned they are squarely in the crosshairs of this cycle’s groundswell against the status quo, despite in some cases top ratings from right–wing blue– chip groups such as the National Rifle Association, National Right to Life and FreedomWorks.

“What we’re seeing now is that some of these incumbents who themselves at one time ... challenged what was then the Republican establishment are now seen as part of the establishment and therefore subject to being challenged by more conservative ideological purists,” said Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.

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Fueled by the candidacies of outsiders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the voter frustration extends beyond the Boehner vote and includes any action perceived to be supportive of the status quo. Even routine spending bills, which incumbents used to hold up as proof they were bringing back bounty for their districts, have become fair game.

The political opening has compelled a litany of challengers to run on the basis that incumbents have been out of touch and insufficiently conservative.

“Overwhelmingly, the message that I hear in the 11th District is that we’re tired of people who promise us one thing here and then go up to Washington and vote in a completely different way really to help their own political careers and to support the establishment and the Washington, D.C., economy,” said Daniel Cowan of Kennesaw, a business executive and first–time candidate running against Loudermilk.

In particular, the primary season is showing the pressure facing many of Georgia’s officials to remain ideologically pure in a legislative body that often calls for political compromise.

The general dissatisfaction about the Republican Party’s direction that led to the 14–percentage–point victory of Trump last month in Georgia’s presidential primary has seeped down into the state’s congressional races.

The anger has particularly boiled over in the congressional districts that are the deepest red, with voters’ discontent often focused on how much incumbents have been perceived to compromise with Democrats or cave in to President Barack Obama.

“I think that’s what driving the Trump and Cruz events this year is that much of the Republican base is unhappy and has been unhappy for a while.

You’re getting a lot of people who aren’t real happy (about) their representatives, even if they are pretty darn conservative,” said Kerwin Swint, a former Republican activist who is now a political science professor at Kennesaw State University.

As it translates to congressional races, Swint said it is no longer enough for incumbents to vote the party line.

Voters are “tired of the compromise, the budget deals and caving in, as they see it, on Obamacare, and they want somebody who’s going to say no and like Cruz shut down the government if that’s what it takes,” Swint said.

In the eyes of many conservatives, no one is seen as a bigger symbol in that capitulation than Boehner, who stepped down at the end of October after months of mounting pressure.

The decision of Georgia’s members not to join their 25 House colleagues who voted against Boehner on the House floor in January 2015 has become a core component of the campaigns of challengers such as Cowan and Broun.

Even in open congressional districts such as Georgia’s 3rd , similar dissatisfaction with the status quo has set the tone even without an incumbent to blame.

“You can go up and vote a particular way and you can get the skin taken off of you. It’s not so much the vote, it’s because it’s not changing. People expect change and they expect results,” said Drew Ferguson, the mayor of West Point who is running in the crowded contest.

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would feature speakers from different organizations on campus, including the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign, and Varshini Prakash, a recent UMass alumna who coordinated divestment

activities at UMass when she was a student.

At a nonviolent direct action training session held by the UMass Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign on Sunday, participants went over their

legal rights as demonstrators and the importance of nonviolent resistance within demonstrations.

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

The anti–establishment fervor can be tricky for incumbents to maneuver around, since they often require defenses that don’t fit neatly into a sound bite.

That holds particularly true for decisions that require sensitive political calculations, such as the December omnibus spending bill that challengers have framed as a vote to continue funding for Planned Parenthood and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. For sitting lawmakers such as Loudermilk, the response has required a dip into the wonky world of Georgia’s water wars with Alabama and Florida. (Most members of the delegation chose to leverage their clout as a bloc to force leaders to strip out what they perceived as harmful language concerning Georgia’s water rights in the bill, which in turn required their support.)

Such votes, even a few years ago, were not considered the kinds of issues over which you could lose your job. But the attention being paid on the campaign trail showcases just how much the political ground has shifted.

“When it comes to protecting the rights of the people in my district, that’s going to outweigh everything else,” Loudermilk said in an interview. “Protecting our water rights is the most important thing that we have to do in this state because if you shut off our water, you kill economic development and you take away the rights of the people to access their water by rationing the water at their homes.”

The lines of attack against incumbents such as Loudermilk, who is aligned with some of Congress’ strongest conservatives as a member of the House Freedom Caucus, demonstrates what Stone sees as the “impossi-

ble standard” that’s often set for Republican lawmakers by their base.

“There’s a big difference between campaigning and governing. These Republican House members often find themselves ... having to deal with things as they are in Washington, which are very different from” Georgia, Stone said.

The current political state is not lost on Republican incumbents such as Collins, a former Baptist minister and Army chaplain who is seeking a third term.

“As an incumbent, I know that I am under great pressure to articulate all that I am doing to try to fix a broken system in Washington, D.C.,” he said in a statement. “Washington, D.C., is broken and people want it fixed now. So do I and I share their frustrations with how slow reform happens.”

What’s still unclear at the moment is the real impact of the outsider presidential campaigns of Trump and Cruz in terms of the success of challengers in these congressional primaries.

State Sen. Mike Crane, who’s also running for the 3rd Congressional District seat, said the people Trump in particular is helping attract to the polls who were previously inactive politically can ultimately help a campaign like his.

“People are concerned, and rightfully so, as they’re watching our nation slipping away,” he said. “They’re asking for somebody to come stand in the gap and stand for what’s right, and they see that I’ve got a track record that can do that.”

Prosecutor says France was original target of April attack Officials charged suspects Sunday

By Helen maguire dpa

The men who carried out last month’s terrorist attacks on Brussels, under pressure from ongoing investigations, struck the Belgian capital rather than France, which had been their first target, Belgian federal prosecutors said Sunday.

The information emerged after the arrest on Friday of Paris terrorism suspect Mohamed Abrini, who, prosecutors said, later confessed to also being the fugitive third attacker in Brussels airport last month.

Abrini’s arrest and information gathered by investigators has shed new light on links between the attacks in Paris last November that

killed 130 people and suicide attacks in Brussels on March 22 that killed 32 people at the city’s airport and an underground station.

The attacks on the Belgian capital took place four days after the arrest there of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect sought in the Paris attacks.

“Numerous elements in the investigation have shown that the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again,” the prosecution said in a statement.

“Eventually, surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels.”

Last month, a suspect named as Reda Kriket was arrested in France on allegations that he was in the advanced stages of planning a new terrorist attack in Paris.

Others have been seized in Brussels in connection with

Kriket, but investigators have been treating this as a separate case to the Brussels attacks.

Abrini was charged Sunday with terrorist murders, attempted terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist group. He admitted to being the sought suspect known as the “man with the hat” based on surveillance images from the Brussels airport.

Abrini had previously been charged with similar terrorist offences relating to the attacks in Paris last November.

Abrini’s exact role in the Paris attacks is not known. He was spotted with key suspect Salah Abdeslam in the days before the attacks, and his fingerprints and DNA were found in a car used in the attacks, as well as at terrorist hideouts in Brussels.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“Not being heard is no reason for silence.” - Victor Hugo

Monday, April 11, 2016

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

Letters to the edItor

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

To the Editor: The premise of the editorial “It’s time to join the conversation” was that there is a strong undercurrent of racism, cisheterosexism and ableism running through the supposedly progressive town of Amherst, and that we must acknowledge and combat this threat. Bigotry in any form is indeed appalling, and it ought to be confronted when it appears. However, anybody who claims that the insidious threat of ableism is a major concern for society is either dangerously out of touch with reality or intentionally obfuscating the truth.

It seems to me that progressives and liberals, amongst whom I count myself, have a supply-and-demand problem when it comes to bigotry in America. The demand for misogynists, racists, ableists, etc., from the left is apparently insatiable, and the supply is often contrived. The editorial references an “incident” in which somebody changed a “Black Lives Matter” display to “All Lives Matter.” Was this a racist who hates African Americans or a 19-year-old who did something stupid?

By no means am I claiming that bigotry in its many forms does not exist. It always has and it always will. But this quest for social justice has devolved into what is little more than a witch hunt that Joseph McCarthy himself would be proud of. I believe that this social crusade is largely borne of legitimate concern for the oppressed, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The most dangerous instantiation of the mindset demonstrated by the Massachusetts Daily Collegian editorial board occurs when it has permeated to public discourse and the exchange of ideas. When we are overly eager to label and persecute offensive “bigotry,” we soon become willing to persecute ideas we find distasteful. This may sound far-fetched, but illustrative examples abound from campuses across the country, ranging from the merely comical to the unbelievable.

Milo Yiannopoulos, known for his highly provocative critiques of feminism, was disrupted and shouted down by Black Lives Matter protestors and feminists during a talk at Rutgers University. A student movement at the University of California Berkeley (the home of the free speech movement) tried to disinvite Bill Maher from giving a commencement speech after he discussed Islam on his television show.

The most striking example, however, was a movement at Brown University to stop Janet Mock, a black transgender woman, from speaking just last month. In case that didn’t register, Brown University students petitioned to stop a black transgender woman from speaking at their school, and they succeeded. Their rationale? The event she intended to speak at was connected to Brown’s Hillel chapter, which some students apparently found objectionable. My utter disdain for these student movements in no way represents a disagreement with the students’ ideological objections to these speakers. It is more fundamental than that.

The foolishness on display in these stories ought to be obvious, but apparently that is not the case. College is not intended to support our preexisting and comforting notions of how the world works, nor should college be tailored to make each and every student feel intellectually safe. We must not react to distasteful ideas by shouting down people who disagree with us or by crying racism, ableism, cisheterosexism, sexism, xenophobia or Islamophobia. This is absolutely critical, and it is why we must be careful when assessing the state of bigotry on campus and in society at large. I am concerned that the same mindset which generates much of today’s social justice campaign is also stifling free speech and the exchange of ideas in the very place where those attributes ought to be cherished above all else.

Hank Simon

Letters to the editor should be no longer than 550 words and can be submitted to either to Editorial@DailyCollegian.com or to DailyCollegian.com. We regret that, due to space constraints, not all letters will be printed but can be found online.

The refugee crisis and American accountability From Syrian refugees to Central the migrant children. The meeting was American immigrants, recent years have called in response to then-Governor Deval repeatedly seen desperate people from Patrick’s plan to temporarily house several hundred children at the Camp Edwards Benjamin Clabault military base, which is partly in Bourne.

The plan seemed reasonable enough; whether they were to be deported or not, other parts of the world seek safety on the children were here in our country and United States soil. How we react to these needed to be cared for somewhere. But, newcomers will say a lot about how we for the town selectmen and some Bourne see ourselves in the world. Will we con- residents, it seemed unthinkable. tinue to act with only our own interests in Despite assurances from a state offimind, maintaining an imperialistic world- cial that the plan would bear virtually view that values American prosperity no cost or burden to the town, selectover the lives and well-being of anyone else? Or will we develop an empathetic view, acknowledging our own complicity in the misery of others and feeling obligated to react with understanding and compassion?

In the summer of 2014, a surge of Central American children arrived at the U.S. border, many unaccompanied by men voted unanimously to write a letter adults. They risked a difficult, potentially of opposition to Patrick. Bourne resideadly journey across Mexico to escape dents expressed various reasons for their violence and poverty in their homelands. stance, with one woman claiming that the One would assume that, even if some immigrants were not “cute little kids” but Americans hold strong beliefs about the rather adults who are intent on “sucking need to enforce immigration laws, these us dry.” Another attendee highlighted the courageous children would be met with need “to protect our children” in the face a general sympathy. Tragically, this was of people who “don’t have the same culoften not the case. ture we have…in Bourne.”

A 2014 meeting of selectmen in Bourne, These comments reflect not only Massachusetts perfectly demonstrated American racism, but also an inability the nastiest elements of the response to to see the migrant crisis in context. The

people at this meeting saw the influx of children as an external threat to their community and way of life. They felt no obligation to help solve a problem they feel Americans did nothing to create. What they failed to see is that, as Americans, they have been complicit in the U.S. policies that contributed to the turmoil in Central America, which spurred the migration in the first place.

Decades of U.S. military intervention and the failings of the war on drugs created the conditions of instability and gang violence in Central American countries.

“Now, as children flee the problems that we helped create, we have no moral grounds to shirk our responsibility to care for them.”

in accordance with the same self-interest that prompted the initial policies, but in doing so we must completely acknowledge our status as international bullies.

An alternative option would be to accept that the world’s problems are our problems, to act with compassion and to orient ourselves as a benevolent member of the international community. This would mean accepting the responsibility of assisting people who have been victimized by our policies.

In the case of the Syrian crisis, debates have raged about our acceptance of refugees. In discussing the issue, we must not forget about our own role in the escalation of the conflict. For years the United States has launched airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and sends weapons to the front. Furthermore, the 2003 American invasion of Iraq destabilized the region and provided the space for radical groups like ISIS to form. Without this intervention, the current situation would be drastically different.

The United States likes to tout itself as the leader of the free world. If we wish to maintain that label while shedding our imperialistic tendencies, we need to accept it when our leadership has brought chaos abroad and respond with compassion.

Now, as children flee the problems that we helped create, we have no moral grounds to shirk our responsibility to care for them.

The fact is that, as a major imperialist power, the United States has played a huge role in world affairs and can rarely view external events as separate from our own actions. We have acted in our own interests in other parts of the world, often with devastating effect for the local populations. When the victims of our poli- Benjamin Clabault is a Collegian columnist and can cies come seeking our aid, we reject them be reached at bclabaul@umass.edu.

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Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, April 11, 2016

“Nobody can teach me who I am.” - Chinua Achebe

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FILM REVIEW

‘Embrace of the Serpent’ delivers powerful critique Surreal exploration of colonialist harms

By Nate taskiN Collegian Staff

“Embrace of the Serpent” does not announce the levels of its madness right away. It starts out discreet, and we only embrace the depths of its ambitions in gradual chunks. A dreamlike cinematic delight, “Embrace of the Serpent” explores both the destructive as well as the restorative power of humanity and nature.

As a meditation on the toxic effects of European colonialism on native peoples of the Amazon – and the havoc it wrought upon the jungle’s flora and fauna – the film acts as a subversion of “Heart of Darkness.” It is not the allegedly innate evil of the forest that is the problem; it is the evil that we take with us and allow to fester.

The year is 1909, and the film opens in a bath of white light. We are introduced to the nauseous German explorer, Theo (Jan Bijvoet), along with his companion Manduca (Yauenkü Migue), a native freed man, as they row downstream. An inch away from death, Theo searches for the rare yakruna leaf that he believes will cure his illness.

Only one man can guide them toward the plant: Karamakate (Nilbio Torres), the last member of the Cohiuano tribe. Karamakate, wary of all whites because of the plagues they always seem to herald (i.e. genocide, deforestation and Christianity), distrusts

ANDRES BARRIENTOS/OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES

‘Embrace of the Serpent’ transitions between two main plotlines roughly 30 years apart, exploring cultural erasure in an intense and dreamlike narrative.

Theo and his westernized aide.

A second plotline happens concurrently, where, over 30 years later, an American ethnobotanist named Evan (Brionne Davis), enlists the help of an aged Karamakate (Antonio Bolivar). This white man also searches for the yakruna and, with the bulk of his research based on Theo’s initial expedition, hopes to succeed where Theo failed. Evan knows Karamakate from a photograph in Theo’s notebook, which Karamakate refers to as his Chullachaqui, his hollow spirit.

Much of the tragedy that

stems from “Embrace of the Serpent” is its lamentation on cultural erasure. As the last member of his tribe, when Karamakate dies, all of his people’s beliefs, rituals and customs die with him. The petroglyphs that he carved long ago used to signify great meaning and import, yet now, in his own words, “they are just pictures of rocks.”

Do not mistake “Embrace of the Serpent” for a “noble savage” narrative. The film acts as a reflection on the eradication of indigenous cultures at the hands of white invaders. Colombian director Ciro Guerra imbues his

narrative with melancholy and anger, and packages those feelings through a trippy sense of dysphoria.

At the same time, we witness the folklore of the individual tribes of the Amazon, along with their elaborate spiritual belief systems that have long since been erased. At least nine different languages are spoken in this film, and the fact that half of them belong to people that no longer exist makes this dialogue feel all the more poignant.

Throughout their journeys, Karamakate emphasizes to Theo and Evan the importance of living in

Evans return decades later, the children have grown up and forged a violent cult with a Christ-like figurehead. With aspects of their Amazonian heritage mixed in with their Christian indoctrination, Karamakate notes that they have created a society that combines the worst of two worlds.

At the same time, the film has a nuanced portrayal of indigenous culture that does not refrain from criticism. Theo’s compass, a vital tool for his journey, is stolen by a chieftain because of its resemblance to an object famous in the tribe’s folklore. Cultural purity begets ignorance, yet forced cultural adoption only instill violence.

The film’s themes recall “Things Fall Apart,” where author Chinua Achebe castigated European imperialism for its ruination of the Igbo people, yet did not withhold his own criticism of their superstitious cultural practices.

Nevertheless, “Embrace of the Serpent” is a colonialist narrative told from the perspective of its victims, and Guerra accomplishes this feat through gorgeous filmmaking. Shot in luscious black-andwhite, the film takes on a psychedelic quality as the camera weaves through the brush, as water droplets fall onto ferns and light pours through the leaves.

Exiting the theater upon this movie’s completion really does feel like the awakening from a dream.

harmony with nature (only eat fish and meat when the rains come), and to disregard worldly possessions.

After all, “they’re just things.” Across their surreal explorations, they witness the apex of Colombia’s rubber wars, brought upon by the white hegemony’s lust for possession.

When Karamakate, Theo and Manduca stumble upon a Catholic mission, they find a sanctuary full of native orphans overseen by a sadistic priest. If any of the children express any remnant of their culture, it is swiftly whipped and beaten out of them.

Nate Taskin can be reached at When Karamakate and ntaskin@umass.edu.

TELEVISION

Sixth season finale of ‘The Walking Dead’ redefines series By alexaNder BeeBe Collegian Staff

Editor’s note: The following article contains spoilers for the sixth season of “The Walking Dead.”

In “East,” the penultimate episode of season six of “The Walking Dead,” Rick (Andrew Lincoln) lies in bed with Michonne (Danai Gurira) and confidently tells her, “The world’s ours...and we know how to take it.”

Michonne was echoing Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) concerns over a retaliatory attack from the Saviors, but Rick was not in the least bit concerned. They have dealt with people like the Saviors before and have the upper hand. Or do they?

The latter half of season six of “The Walking Dead” has shown Rick making decisions under the impression that he and the rest of his group are ahead of the curve in this conflict, and the season finale, “Last Day on Earth,” is 90 minutes dedicated to showing Rick just how horribly wrong he was in making that assumption.

When Rick’s RV is met with a roadblock set up by a small group of Saviors, the only option is to take an alternate route, but with every new path the group attempts to navigate comes another roadblock accompanied by more and more Saviors, and Rick’s descent into fear and denial begins as it slowly dawns on him that there may be no way out this time.

Comparing this episode to its comic book equivalent, the same situation is handled much more masterfully by the TV series and is executed through an exceedingly impressive and engaging sequence of events that bests how it is approached in the comics. The comic book arc introduced the

Saviors by significantly underplaying their numbers initially and then showing their drastic enormity as an army in a surprise reveal.

The previous episodes of the series have continually seen group after group of Saviors killed by Rick and company, creating a smart buildup to give viewers and Rick the illusion that he is winning. This technique makes the realization that Rick is not winning all the more effectively shattering in the context of the finale.

In each past season of this show, we have seen the underestimation of Rick and his band of survivors by every threat that has come their way. Now that tables have turned and Rick’s group has gained a sense of comfort in the Alexandria SafeZone, we are seeing Rick take on the role of the aggressor for the first time, proceeding to make those very same mistakes as the numerous antagonists that have died by his hand.

What was weak about the ultimate capture of Rick’s crew by the Saviors in the comic series was that the Saviors snuck up on Rick in his sleep and surprised him with his guard down just like in every other instance where Rick’s team suffered a loss.

In “Last Day on Earth,” what works so well about Rick running into an increasing number of Saviors in seemingly every direction before being forced into a trap, is how strikingly different it is to see that even with Rick and the other survivors being fully alert and putting forth their best efforts, the Saviors are still 20 steps ahead of them.

The effects of the gradual and slow-burn pace with which this reveal is accomplished is on display in Rick’s disintegrating emo-

tional state throughout the episode.

Before they run into the first Savior roadblock, Rick is shown comforting Maggie with full confidence.

After they run into their third roadblock or so, the shot of Rick comforting Maggie is recreated, but this time Rick is sweating and visibly panicked, with aching nervousness in his eyes. He speaks in a

tone so worried that it sounds more like he is trying to convince himself rather than Maggie that what he is saying is true.

“Last Day on Earth” is a refreshing departure from the regularly explosive and adrenaline-pumping action of past season and mid-season finales, tapping instead into the show’s psychological aspects.

The standout finale of “The Walking Dead” takes viewers along a deliberate and nerve-wracking downward spiral with our heroes where, for the first time in the show’s run, they all find themselves in a situation where there is no escape.

Alexander Beebe can be reached at asbeebe@umass.edu.

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T R AC K A N D F I E L D

SOFTBALL

Women finish first, men take second

to St. Joseph’s in series finale Sun.

UM hosts Leap Year Tri-Meet Minutewomen fall

By Nick Souza Collegian Staff

his personal best set back in the Atlantic 10 championship of last spring.

“I feel pretty great about where I am now and I hope I can keep being consistent,” Arneaud said.

However, the junior did not hit this mark without struggling a bit on his first few attempts with a string of fouls. Coming off the 4x100 relay may have thrown his stride off a bit.

“It’s really a different type of running on the track versus on the runway. The first jump I ran but started to stride out at the end, so I moved back,” Arneaud said.

“It’s tough when you foul because you want to move back, but when you do you start driving out more which make you keep fouling by the same amount, so you just have to keep your run consistent and trust your mark.”

Other standouts included sophomore Evan Burton in the discus throw taking second with a throw of 142 feet, one inch. Fellow sophomore John Chuma took first in the pole vault with a height of 15 feet, 11 inches, setting a new school record.

On the track, Zach Grube’s performance in the 400 meter hurdles led the Minutemen with a time of 56.24 seconds, earning him second. Freshman teammate Zach Frahlich also earned a third place finish in the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:02.14.

The Massachusetts men’s and women’s track and field teams opened Saturday’s home meet with a tribute celebrating the first ever women’s cross country and track and field teams 40 years ago.

The meet drew in a crowd of alumni that ranged from as far back as 1976 to just a few years ago.

“I felt as though there was a good amount of enthusiasm and our athletes really fed off the hometown crowd which was nice to see,” UMass men’s coach Ken O’Brien said.

The Minutemen, who were without a few top performers that competed the day before at Princeton, finished with 118 points and a second place finish out of three teams with Northeastern posting 160 points and Vermont only 93.

“Northeastern is a highly regarded program in New England and I would have been surprised if we had managed to beat them,” O’Brien said. “Our fight today was with Vermont, who have made tremendous strides in recent years.”

UMass showed a level of versatility by scoring in multiple events across the board, but showed a particular measure of strength in Minutewomen beat the field events.

Northeastern by Among the first place one point finishers was junior Deion Arneaud in the triple jump The women’s track and with a distance of 46 feet, field team scored a total eight inches which matches of 137 points, which was

REUNION

continued from page 8

former Minutemen share a special bond.

A number of players also fondly recalled the family atmosphere that Garber tried to promote throughout the team, like the times when his wife would bring ginger snaps and cider down to the team.

Current UMass coach Greg Cannella recognizes the importance of honoring the history and tradition of Minutemen lacrosse.

“I think it’s extremely important,” Cannella said.

“Those guys had a heck of a year, and a lot of those guys are still coming up to games and still involved as alums with our players, supporting us emotionally and financially. They’re great people.”

Cannella added that a number of the facilities that this year’s UMass team enjoys – a new field, locker room and film room – were all made possible because of alumni contributions.

Junior Brendan Hegarty also recognized the importance of honoring former Minutemen.

“It’s very important.

We’re big on tradition here at UMass, so we respect those guys and the alumni are very important to us,” Hegarty said.

According to Cannella, when you talk about UMass lacrosse tradition, you are really talking about Garber,

who coached for 36 years and has the field named after him.

“I’m sure all those guys when they were together before the game will be together after the game tonight, they’ll talk about coach Garber. That’s the number one thing when you talk about the tradition here at UMass,” Cannella said.

Cannella also reflected on the continuity of UMass lacrosse, going from Garber as head, then his son, Ted Garber, for four years, to Cannella who has now been the head coach since 1995.

“I’m one of coach’s guys too because I played for him, the guys from the 60s and 70s, I’m still one of them. I’m a UMass guy. I’m a gorilla like them. And then from the 80s those are my contemporaries, and then after that I’ve coached all those guys, so there has been continuity over 60 years just because I’m one of coach’s guys. It’s very important,” Cannella said.

Garber Field will not have to wait long for another Minutemen reunion as UMass is set to honor the 2006 team for the 10th anniversary of the team’s season after the game against Hofstra on April 23.

Jamie Cushman can be reached at jrcushman@umass.edu.

COLONIALS effort, they threw a lot of different people at her but she was able to stay consistent,” McMahon said.

After the Colonials scored a goal with 19 seconds left in the first half to cut the deficit to three, Erika Eipp, who finished with two goals and five assist, scored with one second left in the half on a free position shot sending the Minutewomen to halftime

By Leo SterN Collegian Staff

JESSICA PICARD/COLLEGIAN

Colleen Sands jumps over a hurdle in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. just good enough to beat the Huskies’ 136. Vermont rounded out the scoring with 107.

UMass also relied on its ability to score across multiple events and did so without junior stand-out Heather MacLean, who was out with patellar tendonitis.

Helping fill the void was freshman Emilie Cowan who took first place in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:12.75, which nearly tied her personal best set during the indoor season.

“My goal is to break 2:10 by the end of the season, definitely by A-10’s and it’s definitely there, I can feel it,” Cowan said.

Cowan and freshman teammate Mary Lavery stayed together throughout the majority of the race, and were separated by one second at the finish line with Lavery taking second at 2:13.

“The goal for me was to just go out, I didn’t really do that last week at Florida,” Cowan said. “I know Mary (Lavery) in distance races is very strong, especially in the

TOWSON

first half of the race, and I just wanted to stay with her as long as I could.”

The sprinting events were capped off for the Minutewomen by sophomore Diamante Spencer with a time of 12.4 seconds in the 100 meter dash winning her first place.

In field events, UMass benefited from three first place finishes, the first coming in the long jump with sophomore Bridget Deveau jumping 17 feet, three and one quarter inches. Junior Kelsey Crawford won the shot put event with a distance of 46 feet, nine inches, while senior Emma Robinson won javelin throw with a distance of 136 feet, four inches.

The Minutemen will compete home again on April 16 at the Minuteman Invitational, while the Minutewomen’s next meet will be the Ocean State Invitational in Providence on April 15.

Nick Souza can be reached at njsouza@umass.edu.

continued from page 8

to taking the lead. Fiftysix seconds into the second half, Joe Seider scored his 23rd goal of the season and third of the game to regain Towson the lead.

The Minutemen kept up with the Tigers, keeping it a one score deficit for most of the game, but failed to overcome Towson’s constant pressure.

“I think it was our inability to kind of – as an

they may not have had to.

“We could have played a little bit more together,” Hegarty said. “I thought at some points maybe guys tried to do a little too much, which we can always fix.

But definitely playing more together could have helped us today,” UMass will visit Fairfield next Saturday to take on the Stags at 1:00

“We could have played a little bit more together, I thought that at some points maybe guys tried to do a little too much, which we can always fix.”

Brendan Hegarty, UMass attacker offensive group – to understand the situations of the game,” Cannella said. “We played a lot of defense the entire game, first half and second half, so when you get those possessions you know you can’t toss them away and I thought we did that as an offensive group.

I thought we had some real short possessions where we turned it over or didn’t take a quality shot. I think when we were patient we were able to get better opportunities.”

The pressure to score late in the game caused UMass to rush shots that

p.m. The last time the two teams met was in the CAA semifinals, where the Minutemen won 9-8.

Fairfield currently hold a 5-6 overall record and is 1-0 in the CAA. “We’ve been in that situation before this year and we have a lot of guys who have been there,” Hegarty said. “So we’ve been battling back all year. We’ve been in that position; you have to grind it out.”

Philip Sanzo can be reached at psanzo@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Philip_Sanzo.

continued from page 8

with a 9-4 lead.

UMass picked up where it left off in the second half, scoring the first three goals after the intermission. The Minutewomen were aggressive offensively, outshooting George Washington 36-20.

It was once again a balanced scoring attack for UMass, as five different girls found the back of the net, with goals coming from

Troost (five), Eipp (three), Eileen McDonald (three), Hannah Burnett (three) and Holly Turner (one).

“We had a lot of different scorers on the day, a lot of people stepping up for us which is what we want to do- create a balanced scoring attack with multiple threats,” McMahon said.

The Colonials made a small run at the end of the game, scoring three straight

goals, bringing the score to 13-8 with 7:58 remaining.

That was as close as the George Washington would get.

“We did what we needed to do to win the game. We are still trying to look for areas of improvement and playing that full 60-minute game,” McMahon said.

Thomas Johnston can be reached at tjohnston@umass.edu.

Cozza missed almost the entirety of last season due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, but has transitioned well to her starting role on the team this year, as she showed today coming through as the Minutewomen’s biggest offensive power.

“After the first few tournaments, I cut loose,” Cozza said in response to her added playing time and contribution to the team this season.

While UMass managed to tack on an extra hit in the seventh, its effort would go unrewarded, as St. Joe’s starter Ashley Ventura pitched a complete-game shutout finishing with eight strikeouts while walking none.

“I don’t think (Saturday’s doubleheader) affected our energy at all,” Stefanoni said.

Meanwhile, UMass’ defense showed clear improvements from the day before. The Minutewomen committed four errors in the second game of the series, and did not commit any in Sunday’s series finale. In addition, Stacevicz made a spectacular running catch in center field to keep UMass in the game.

“It’s just them relaxing.

This is our home field, we know how the ball bounces better than anybody,” Stefanoni said when asked about the drastic defensive improvement in the third game of the series.

In addition to her defense’s backup, Colleran threw a complete game for the Minutewomen, allowing just two earned runs on five hits. Colleran also walked three batters and struck out five in the loss.

UMass will look to put its offensive struggles behind as they take on Rhode Island in a doubleheader Tuesday at home.

After splitting Saturday’s doubleheader against Saint Joseph’s, the Massachusetts softball team was shut out 3-0 in the rubber game of the series Sunday afternoon at Sortino Field.

The Hawks (14-15-1, 3-5-1 Atlantic 10) struck in the first inning and never looked back when shortstop Sarah Yoos singled off of UMass (10-20, 4-4 A-10) starter Meg Colleran to give St. Joe’s a 1-0 lead. Colleran started both games for the Minutewomen Saturday, pitching a total of 12 innings.

In the third the Hawks scored again when Colleran walked Kaylyn Zierke with the bases loaded to make it 2-0. Later in the inning, Amanda Kulp tagged up on a Brandi Harkness fly out to center to add another run.

UMass got off to a slow offensive start, with its first hit on a ground ball single into left field by freshman centerfielder Erin Stacevicz in the fourth inning. The Minutewomen could not use the leadoff spark, as they failed to convert with a runner on base.

In total, they left five runners LOB. When asked what she would attribute the team’s late offensive start to, UMass coach Kristi Stefanoni said “the main theme of the game was we were pressing too much.”

Kaycee Carbone and pinch hitter Melissa Garcia’s singles in the fifth showed life for the the Minutewomen, but yet again they were stranded on base.

Jena Cozza’s sixth inning double was the only extra base hit in the contest for UMass. However, yet again, the depth of the lineup could not come through late in the game to Leo Stern can be reached at drive her home. llstern@umass.edu.

BASEBALL the game at first base before shifting to the mound, was walked with the bases loaded in the fifth frame which scored Vinny Scifo, who singled to lead off the inning.

Lasko lasted just 4.1 innings on the mound Sunday afternoon. The freshman from Stratford, Connecticut allowed just one earned run and six hits and struck out one on 53 pitches.

“He wasn’t real sharp today, but he battled,” Stone said of his starter. “It was a back and forth battle by both teams…He gave us a great effort. He just didn’t get too deep in the game for us. It didn’t work out today.”

Minutemen split Friday doubleheader UMass took game one of the doubleheader with the Bonnies on Friday afternoon, winning 3-2, while falling in the night cap 5-3.

Ryan Moloney was dominant on the mound in the series opener, tossing seven innings of seven hit ball, allowing just two runs and walking one while striking out five on 98 pitches. The junior hurler did not factor into the decision, however, as Kevin Hassett picked up the victory in a spotless eighth inning of relief.

Sophomore outfielder Brett Evangelista launched a solo home run to put the Minutemen ahead in the third inning. Evangelista

continued from page 8

later doubled for his second hit of the game in the fourth inning and drove in Geannelis for his second run of the game. Geannelis also tallied an RBI for the Minutemen, who had just four hits on the afternoon.

Evan Mackintosh came on to slam the door on a possible Bonnie comeback, pitching a scoreless ninth to pick up his fourth save of the season.

In game two, UMass jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three innings. Junior Mike Hart and Jennings hit back-to-back RBI doubles, with Hart being hit home by Geannelis to end the inning.

Hart and Geannelis were the lone Minutemen to have a multi-hit game.

That was all the scoring the Minutemen would muster, however, as St. Bonaventure scored five unanswered runs to take the back end of the double header, 5-3.

Starter Tim Cassidy did not factor into the decision after his stellar performance on the hill. Cassidy allowed a single hit over six innings of work, allowing two runs and striking out a career-high nine batters. Kevin Lacy allowed two runs in just onethird of an inning and was on the losing end of the decision.

Kyle DaLuz can be reached at kdaluz@umass.edu, and followed on Twitter @Kyle_DaLuz.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, April 11, 2016

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Tory Verdi named next UMass head coach New HC went 72-61 in four seasons at EMU By mark Chiarelli Collegian Staff

The University of Massachusetts has hired Eastern Michigan’s Tory Verdi as its next women’s basketball coach, tabbing the local product to lead a rebuild of the program.

Verdi coached the Eagles to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament the last two seasons, and was set to enter his fifth season at EMU. He signed a contract extension with the Eastern Michigan last June through the 2021 season after coaching EMU

to the WNIT “Sweet 16”, according to MLive.

EMU was Verdi’s first career head coaching job. He took over the program ahead of the 2012-13 season and compiled an 8-22 record in his first year. It was EMU’s only losing season under Verdi, and he posted a 72-61 overall record in four seasons at EMU. “I am thrilled to be the head coach at UMass,” Verdi said in a press release Saturday. “I knew the day that I stepped on campus that the University of Massachusetts was a special place. UMass women’s basketball has all of the elements to build a championshipcaliber program and provide an outstanding student-athlete experience. I am excited to take this

UM honors 1976 team at Garber

program to the next level.”

Verdi will replace Sharon Dawley, who was fired after six seasons at UMass. The Minutewomen went 46-133 over that time, including a 12-18 record last season.

They’re top three scorers from last season – Cierra Dillard, Bria Stallworth and Alyssa Lawrence – are expected to return.

“This is a truly exciting time for our women’s basketball program with the addition of Tory Verdi as our head coach,”UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford said in a statement. “Tory has a tremendous track record of success that will be a real asset for our program as we compete for Atlantic 10 Championships. His enthusiasm for building a winning culture that

promotes success in the classroom, in competition and in the community makes him a great fit for the University of Massachusetts.”

Verdi is a native of New Britain, Connecticut and attended Keene State in New Hampshire. He has experience coaching in the women’s NCAA Tournament as an assistant at Kansas, where he coached for two seasons prior to taking over EMU, and also served as an assistant at Nebraska from 2005 to 2010. He’s Bamford’s second hire of the spring, arriving in Amherst just over a week after the University also announced the hiring of new hockey coach Greg Carvel.

Verdi was also at the helm of EMU during a trying time

M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

two seasons ago when Shannise Heady, a 21-year-old forward on the team, died in a late-January car accident. The program determined it would play out the rest of the season, went 12-2 over its final four games and appeared in the Mid-American Conference’s Championship game.

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian reported Thursday that Verdi was a finalist for the job and firmly “on the radar” of Bamford, and first reported Verdi’s hiring Saturday morning. The University will introduce Verdi at a press conference on campus Wednesday.

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

BASEBALL

Late rally gives SBU series win

Access denied

By Jamie Cushman Collegian Staff

By kyle Daluz

This year’s collection of the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team was not the only group of Minutemen present for Saturday’s game against Towson.

At halftime UMass honored the 1976 lacrosse team for the 40th anniversary of its season.

A total of 11 former players returned to campus for the ceremony: Andy Scheffer, Mike Lettera, Terry Keefe, Harry Conforti, Don Goldstein, Wayne “Duke” Ament, Richard Carnall, Fran Young, Norman “Norm” Smith, Vin LoBello and Jeff Spooner were all present for Saturday’s festivities.

The 1976 team was the university’s first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament.

The former Minutemen were excited to catch up with some of their old teammates and friends to rekindle the same relationships they had back when they were playing under legendary head coach Richard “Dick” Garber.

“We had a great day, the weather accommodated us,” Spooner said.

“It’s always great to be back. You know the thing about lacrosse, it’s like a community. It’s like a little fraternity.”

Conforti agreed with his former teammate.

“Just pure joy catching up with these guys. I’ve maintained friendships with the majority of the kids on the team.”

Whether it was Spooner describing his annual golf game with Young, Lenny Caffery and David Lautman (other members of the ’76 team that were not present), or Conforti talking about his former teammates, it was obvious the

The Massachusetts baseball team went into Sunday’s rubber match of its three-game series with St. Bonaventure hoping to take the deciding game and hit the .500 mark in Atlantic 10 play.

UMass failed to hold on to its 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, and the Bonnies (14-11-1, 2-4 A-10) scored five unanswered runs over the final three innings to beat the Minutemen 7-3 and take the series two games to one.

UMass (6-13, 2-4 Atlantic 10) scored single runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings en route to taking a one-run lead into the bottom of the sixth. Junior Dylan Morris singled to score Jon Avallone in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead heading to the bottom half of the inning.

“It’s obviously frustrating,” Minutemen coach Mike Stone said of failing to close out the game. “It was a tight ballgame.

We just couldn’t execute in situations to grab the lead, or keep it. Obviously if it’s important to you, you’re going to be disappointed.”

Mike Geannelis, who has three runs batted in and a stellar .429 average since missing the first 15 games of the season due to a team policy infraction, took the hill in relief of starter Justin Lasko in the fifth inning and surrendered three earned runs – two in the sixth inning – and the Minutemen lead in his 2.1 innings of work.

Hunter Carey put UMass in front in the second inning with his sacrifice fly to plate John Jennings. Geannelis, who started

see

REUNION on page 7

Collegian Staff

KATHERINE MAYO/COLLEGIAN

Buddy Carr (35) is denied a goal in UMass’ 11-8 loss against Towson Saturday afternoon at Garber Field.

Minutemen fall to No. 6 Tigers

By PhiliP sanzo

turnovers, six of which came in the third quarter.

Following the Minutemen’s The Massachusetts men’s two-goal lead that opened the conlacrosse season is coming down to test, the Tigers quickly the wire and with three erased it with five mingames remaining on Towson 11 utes, 15 seconds remainthe schedule, UMass is ing in the first quarstill winless in conferUMass 8 ter, as UMass failed to ence play. regain the lead for the Towson’s 11-8 victorest of the game. ry was the Minutemen’s sixth loss Minutemen coach Greg of the season, Saturday.

Cannella believed the momentum The Tigers (10-1, 2-0 Colonial Athletic Association) came into never really shifted their way.

“It is one goal you know, it felt Garber Field ranked No. 6 in the country, riding a four-game win- like that the whole game, it felt like ning streak with their last loss we were behind the whole game,” came at the hands of Johns Cannella said. “One goal, two goals, one goal, two goals, then we tie it.

Hopkins on March 12.

Towson limited UMass (4-6, 0-2 So even when you tie since you CAA) to 27 shots and forced 13 were playing from behind it felt Collegian Staff

like we were playing from behind.”

The only glimpse of control that the Minutemen showed came with a little under three and half minutes remaining in the half. Towson had just taken a 6-4 lead when Ben Spencer scored an unassisted goal to cut the deficit to one.

UMass then won the following faceoff and immediately got the ball to Brendan Hegarty who tied the game at six, only six seconds after the Minutemen’s previous goal. That was Hegarty’s third and final goal of the game.

“Those guys made some good feeds inside,” Hegarty said. “That’s really the hard part, I have the easy part, I’m on the end of those three.”

That was the closest UMass got see

TOWSON on page 7

see

BASEBALL on page 7

WO M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

Slow start doesn’t stop Minutewomen in win over Colonials Nicole Troost leads way with five goals

(11-1, 4-0 Atlantic 10). So often this season, they have stymied opponents by blistering from the opening whistle, getting out to a

By Thomas JohnsTon Collegian Staff substantial lead that the other teams struggle to The Massachusetts women’s lacrosse team overcome. Sunday, it was used a 10-1 run to cap off UMass who had to pick its short weekend road trip itself out of an early hole.

After Nicole Troost with a 15-9 victory against George Washington Sunday scored the first goal of the game three minafternoon in the utes, 35 seconds nation’s capital.

UMass 15 in, UMass surThe win extends rendered three UMass’ winning GW 8 straight goals, streak to six putting the games.

Minutewomen It was an uncharacteristically slow down 3-1. Michaela Lynch start for the Minutewomen led the Colonials (2-10, 0-4

A-10) finishing the game with four goals on six shots.

From there, UMass came with a fury of offense, scoring six goals in a row, and 10 out of the next 11 to give it a 11-4 lead with 24:11 remaining in the game.

Troost scored four of her five goals in the first half, putting her at 42 goals on the season.

“We stayed composed and knew that if we stuck to our game plan and executed our sets we would eventually get looks, which we did. We did a good job responding,” Minutewomen coach

Angela McMahon said.

Hannah Murphy was dominant in the draw control circle, leading UMass with 12 of its 18 total.

Overall, the Minutewomen were 18-of-26 on draw controls.

McMahon credited Murphy’s efforts in the circle as a big reason UMass clawed back into the game, as it gave it extra possessions and opportunities on the offensive end. “(Murphy) did a fantastic job today directing (the ball) in an area where she would be able to come up with it. Really proud of her see

COLONIALS on page 7

SAM ANDERSON/COLLEGIAN

Nicole Troost (6) leads the Minutewomen this year with 42 goals scored.