THE MASSACHUSETTS
A free and responsible press
DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Back at it again
Northampton to host 51 refugees First families set to arrive in 2017 By Danny Cordova Collegian Staff
The city of Northampton is set to create a sanctuary for refugees from the Middle East starting as early as 2017. The resettlement effort is a joint collaboration between the city of Northampton and Catholic Charities of Springfield, an agency that was approached by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services to task them with bringing refugees to Northampton. Both re presentatives of the city and Catholic Charities said Northampton is an ideal location for refugees because of overwhelming support from the community. “What we have experienced over the last month is an astonishing outpouring of people from all kinds of places who want this to happen, and are excited about this happening,” Susannah Crolius, coordinator of outreach and research development at Catholic Charities, said. Initial discussions of the resettlement project began in December when a resolution was passed unanimously that declared the city of Northampton open to the idea of providing sanctuary to refugees. About a month after the resolution was passed, Catholic Charities
approached the city and offered to bring refugees. The resettlement project was approved by the State Department in mid-August for 51 refugees to arrive at the city beginning in the federal fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Catholic Charities is aiming to send the first two families to Northampton in January. Northampton city council member Alisa Klein of ward seven is volunteering with Catholic Charities in order to prepare and educate the community of Northampton for the eventual arrival of the refugees. While writing the resolution, Klein researched the economic impacts of refugees in cities in the United States and Europe. Klein discovered that cities that accept refugees experience a positive economic impact. “When more refugees come, they fill jobs that other people might not be filling, they become consumers,” Klein said. “So all of that has the impact of improving a city’s economy.” A concern that Klein has received over the past months from her constituency is that the city has a big problem of its own to address: poverty. However, Klein does not believe that the two issues are mutually exclusive. “I think that we can welcome refugees and we can support them, and we can also be very committed to working on issues of homelessness and povsee
REFUGEES on page 2
Serving the UMass community since 1890
News@DailyCollegian.com
KATHERINE MAYO/COLLEGIAN
Students enjoy food prepared by UMass Dining during the Welcome Week BBQ on Monday at the Hagis Mall after the Class of 2020’s photo was taken.
Amherst bans plastic bags in retail Bylaw passed 11030 on May 26th By Melisa Joseph Collegian Correspondent Starting on Jan. 1, single-use plastic bags will be prohibited from all retail facilities in the town of Amherst in accordance with a bylaw passed May 26th in the Amherst Town Meeting. The bylaw, supported by a vote of 110 to 30 in the Town Meeting, is known as Article 36:
Single Use Plastic Bag Ban Prohibition. The bylaw was written by University of Massachusetts sustainability science graduate student, Keven Hollerbach. What started out just as a graduate internship idea turned out to impact more people than Hollerbach first expected. “[Plastic bags are] just straight up unnecessary,” Hollerbach said. “Plastic bags? We can get rid of those now.”
Hollerbach added that one bag has an average lifespan of 12 minutes, but a lifetime impact on marine life, pollution and humans. “Incinerating plastic produces carcinogenic compounds that can cause significant adverse health effects for people living near these incineration plants,” Hollerbach said. Businesses will be putting up signs to inform consumers of the coming change in policy. In
addition, if a buisness is suffering due to the plastic bag ban, they will be able to request a one-year deferment from the Board of Health to meet their needs. If a buisness does not comply, they will be issued a warning first, and then a $50 fine for the first day, which will add up for each day of the offense. This bylaw is designed to encourage consumsee
PLASTIC on page 2
SGA conduct adviser program expands UMass to install to work as a support system for students 15,576 solar panels New training to change position By Stuart Foster Collegian Staff
As the fall semester of 2016 begins, the University of Massachusetts Student Government Association’s conduct adviser program will shift from solely providing students with advice to also functioning as a support network. Conduct advisers are students who, after applying to and being accepted for the position, have been typically tasked with one of two jobs. They may provide advice for students who receive a disciplinary sanction from UMass after violating the Student Code of Conduct or the Residential Life Community Standards, or for students who wish to file a sanction against someone in the University. “One thing about the conduct advisers is that there isn’t really a safety net for you, so many students find it difficult to continue at the University,” said Jiya Nair,
the incoming SGA Attorney General and a sophomore majoring in political science and business management. “The conduct process shouldn’t be something that discourages students from attending the University,” she said. While conduct advisers would previously limit their time with students seeking their help to a short block of advice, Nair said that conduct advisers will now be trained to redirect students to other campus services. The UMass Center for Women and Community will do training sessions with the incoming conduct advisers to inform them of how to best help students find the resources they need on campus. Nair also said that conduct advisers will now be better equipped to deal with the trauma of the people seeing them, and not just with the cases at hand. “If you feel like you have an issue that isn’t related to the conduct system but need advice, you can come in and they’ll redirect you,” she said.
Conduct review cases could be stressful on students academically, socially or financially, said Nair, and understanding these stresses would allow for conduct advisers to support UMass students’ mental health. “One of the reasons we decided to change the process is the Attorney General’s Office’s attempt to move towards a more restorative justice policy on campus,” Nair said. The SGA Attorney General’s Office will attempt to work more at rehabilitating students being sanctioned by helping them reconcile their actions, the impacts they have had on themselves and other people at UMass, according to Nair. She differentiated this system from mediation, where two parties accept the impacts their actions have had on each other, by focusing on how restorative justice is dependent on students accepting their own actions and learning about their impacts. Nair contrasted punitive justice, which she said focuses on making students
pay for their actions, with restorative justice, which she said could help turn sanctions of students into a more educational experience. Rebekah Kohls, a senior studying business management, is one of the students who will become a conduct adviser this fall. She said she was introduced to the position by her friend Evandro Tavares, the former SGA attorney general. Kohls said that she and other conduct advisers are learning about on-campus organizations such as the CWC and the Center for Counseling and Psychological Help, and that conduct advisers will be able to give students seeking help better assistance. “I think the end goal is to move UMass from a penal system to a holistic system,” she said. “I think having a system that’s more helpful to having them find a support system.” Stuart Foster can be reached at stuartfoster@umass.edu or followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster.
Initiative aims to save energy costs By Tanaya M. Asnani Collegian Staff
A solar energy initiative by the University of Massachusetts will have 15,576 solar panels newly installed to provide electrical power by the end of 2016. This initiative aims to save electricity costs for the university by $6.2 million in a span of 20 years. There will be 8 solar panel installations. Six of them will be placed on rooftops and the other two will placed above parking lots. The rooftops are those of the Recreation Center, Champions Center, Fine Arts Center, bus maintenance garage as well as the Computer Science Department buildings. The two parking lots include those of the North Residential Area as well as the Mullins Center parking lots. The panels in the parking lots will occupy a space of 11.6 acres. The total amount of electricity generated by these panels
per year is roughly equal to the energy used by 900 Massachusetts homes per year. The total sum of $6.2 million that these panels will save the university in electricity costs can be broken down. The university is expecting to save $89,000 in electricity for the first year where on average the savings are also expected to grow to $310,000 per year. For now, these panels are expected to provide 22% of the total energy for the university’s needs and 78% will still come from the Combined Heat and Power plant on campus. The electrical power produced by the panels is expected to bring greater savings at the peak of electricity demand. At the peak, electricity rates rise and it discourages customers from using more electricity. Larry Rivais, associate editor of the News and Relations office said, “The cost of the solar power is constant, thus the savings is greater during hours of see
SOLAR on page 2