The Massachusetts Daily Collegian: January, 26th 2017

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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Theft in Cance caught on tape Suspects have not yet been identified B y Jami D unn Collegian Staff

Serving the UMass community since 1890

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Smashing Through the Expo

The crime alert lists “a black HP game computer with a red keyboard, a blue and orange bomber jacket, a black suitcase and a significant amount of cash,” as some of the items reported stolen.

The UMPD is still searching for the three individuals pictured in photographs that accompanied the crime alert, and is requesting that anyone with information contact UMPD Officer Lisa Billiel.

This story will be updated as new information comes in.

The University of Massachusetts Police Department is investigating a theft that occurred on Wednesday, Jan. 25 between the hours of 12:15 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Cance Hall.

According to a crime alert that was emailed to students the victim of the theft, whose room was unoccupied and unlocked when entered by the currently unknown subjects, Jami Dunn can be reached reported that numerous items at jamidunn@umass.edu and were taken from his room. followed on Twitter @JamiDunn_.

Equestrians at Smith fight back Petition has over 1,700 signatures B y Jackson C ote Collegian Staff

Responding to Smith College’s move to transition their equestrian team from varsity to club status and close their on-campus barn, current studentriders and Northampton community members have united in efforts to oppose the decision.

The administration announced its decision on Dec. 8, 2016, only two weeks before the end of the fall semester, and the College immediately received pushback, from current and former students.

“We’re all still grieving and feeling,” wrote equestrian team captain Kelsey Parks Smith, who posted on the team’s official Facebook page shortly after the administration made its decision public.

“We’re going to need all the hands, voices, and people we can get to prove that this isn’t a disposable program,” she added.

The most notable opposition came from Save Smith Equestrian, a committee composed of 15 alumnae and former equestrian team members, who formed the organization to fight to reverse the administration’s actions.

In a news release posted on Smith’s athletics web page, the College wrote, “The decision was strategic, not financial,” adding, “fundraising for the program, as some have proposed, will not change it.”

A spokesperson for Save Smith Equestrian, Jess Peláez, who graduated from Smith in 2005, noted that it “seems very counterintuitive,” for an all-women’s college like Smith to make cuts to the only sport that it offers where men and women can complete equally.

She also stated that

much of the outrage surrounding the College’s actions stems from the fact that the decision was so “sudden, [and] secretive.”

The only two administrators who knew about the decision – which had been in the works for two years, without public knowledge – were Smith College Dean Donna Lisker and Director of Athletics Kristin Hughes, according to Peláez.

Peláez said that Smith’s board of trustees did not even know about the idea prior to the College announcing it, citing a call she made on Monday Jan. 23, 2017 with Lisker, Hughes and Chair of the Board of Trustees Deborah Duncan.

“This is not what we expected from our alma mater,” Peláez said. “We expect transparency, open dialogue, communal problem solving, and it’s just not there.”

Members of Save Smith Equestrian initially thought that Smith’s actions were a matter of finances. Many alumnae made efforts to fundraise.

They also offered to buy the barn from the College and change over its operations, which the college refused, according to Peláez.

On Dec. 16, 2016, Lisker sent out a letter to members of Save Smith Equestrian explaining some of the factors that went into the decisionmaking, citing “the complexities of animal care,” as well as a “declining interest in riding,” and the issue of “managing liability.”

“We don’t think that stands up either,” Peláez said, in reference to Lisker’s claim that the liability of operating the barn was a factor in it being shut down.

Save Smith Equestrian is currently trying to see

EQUESTRIAN on page 2

JONG MAN KIM/COLLEGIAN

Students played Super Smash Bros and other video games during the Student Activities Expo in the Student Union on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

UMass receives Suicides provoke student threat social media study Small to stay out of Hampshire County

Attorney’s Office.

Small, a 22-year-old from Newbury, Mass., was “released on his personal

By Hayley Johnson recognizance with the conCollegian Staff ditions that he stay out of Geoffrey Small, a stu- Hampshire County and away dent at the University from UMass, not take drugs, of Massachusetts, was submit to random drug testing and undergo anger evaluarraigned Tuesday in the ation and recommended folEastern Hampshire District low-through,” said Carey in a Court for allegedly threatpress release. ening to commit a shooting Small will be back in court in connection with a verbal on Feb. 28, according to Carey. threat directed toward UMass campus, according to Mary Hayley Johnson can be reached at Carey, a spokesperson for hkjohnson@umass.edu and followed the Northwestern District on Twitter @hayleyk_johnson.

By Johnny Diaz, Selima Hussain and Diane C. Lade Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It happened again. A teenager used a live-streaming platform while committing suicide. This time it was 14-year-old Nakia Venant from the bathroom of her Miami Gardens foster home Sunday night. Using a scarf, she made a handmade noose and hanged herself on the shower door frame before the Facebook Live feed stopped.

The act of self-broadcasting a suicide is rare,

but it appears that capturing and sharing violent incidents is becoming more common with the rise of smart phones and the popularity of live-streaming sites such as Facebook Live and Periscope.

People aren’t just recording suicides but also assaults, abuse and shootings. The ability to record and share them illustrates how some people are likely to watch passively while others are willing to help those in need. In Nakia’s see

SOCIAL MEDIA on page 3

Trump issues border wall order

By Brian Bennett and Noah Bierman Tribune Washington Bureau

WA S H I N G T O N — President Donald Trump directed federal workers Wednesday to start building a border wall and begin punishing so-called sanctuary cities and is considering dramatically limiting the flow of people from other countries, including a ban on Syrian refugees, in a flurry of steps that could fundamentally reshape how the U.S. deals with immigration, security and the war on terrorism.

Trump signed two executive orders designed to begin building the wall, add lockups for detaining immigrants who cross the border illegally, enhance enforcement power for border agents and strip federal funding to cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement.

“Reform of our immigration system has been at the top of President Trump’s priorities since he announced his candidacy,” spokesman Sean Spicer said

early Wednesday afternoon.

“We’ll enforce the rule of law and restore value to the American citizenship.”

Trump said construction would begin as soon as possible and that the U.S. would pay for it, to be eventually reimbursed by Mexico, which has said it will not pay.

“There will be a payment.

It will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News.

He did not detail how he would force Mexico to pay for the wall, though during the campaign he proposed ending remittances sent home by Mexicans in the U.S., which make up a large part of the Mexico’s economy, to pressure it to negotiate.

Trump is mulling a range of additional activity. It includes stopping admission of Syrian refugees and severe restrictions on travel from several majority-Muslim countries. Additionally, he is considering a rever-

sal of President Barack Obama’s efforts to shutter the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the reintroduction of torture techniques and secret overseas prisons designed to strip protections for terrorism suspects.

All of those options fit Trump’s broad campaign promises to crack down on people entering the country illegally, with an emphasis on those who he believes might harm Americans.

Trump argued repeatedly during the campaign that the U.S. had become too “politically correct” to effectively defend itself.

Trump administration officials were still deciding on the exact timing for announcing the rest of the new policies.

The batch of actions Trump is contemplating amount to a clear repudiation of Obama’s view, as well as that of many in the international community, that the U.S. abandoned some of its commitment to human

rights in the early years of the war on terrorism and doing so helped terrorist groups recruit and win favor. Some of that thinking had begun to take shape in the Bush administration, which initiated the policy of moving detainees out of Guantanamo Bay and often underscored that the fight against terrorism was not religious-based.

Obama pointed to a lack of Sept. 11-style terrorist attacks on U.S. soil during his administration as evidence that his approach worked. Yet Trump won the election in part because many Americans continue to feel vulnerable.

But it all begins with the wall. Trump built his campaign largely on a call for stricter immigration enforcement, his central promise a vow to build the wall on the border with Mexico. Though it evoked cheers from his supporters at campaign rallies, his divisive rhetoric stoked fears see

BORDER WALL on page 3

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Thursday, January 26, 2017

THE RU N D OW N ON THIS DAY...

In 2002, “Les Miserables” played for the 6,138th time to become the second-longest running show in Broadway history.

“Cats” closed in 2000 with the record of 7,485 shows.

AROUND THE WORLD

Syria opposition rejects Russian draft of new constitution MOSCOW — Syria’s opposition rejected a proposal from Russia on a new constitution for the conflicttorn country, warning the Kremlin against repeating the mistake made by the Bush administration after the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Russia presented the document in Arabic during a meeting with the chief rebel negotiator, Mohammed Alloush, at peace talks this week in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that the blueprint written by Russian experts was based on ideas from the Syrian government, opposition and regional powers.

The draft proposes that the Syrian president be elected for seven years without the right to seek re-election, Interfax reported, citing a person familiar with the document it didn’t identify. It also suggests that the country will have a parliament with two chambers and rejects Islamic Shariah as the basis for law, the newswire said.

“We told them that the Syrians are the ones who are entitled to write the constitution,” Yahya al-Aridi, a member of the opposition delegation to the Astana negotiations, said by phone on Wednesday. “The experience of Paul Bremer in Iraq is quite clear – when a constitution is written by another country, politically it won’t work.” He was referring to the U.S. official who governed Iraq under occupation from 2003-2004. He declined to comment on the contents of the Russian proposal.

The Russian-led talks in Astana ended Tuesday after two days with an agreement to bolster a cease-fire even as apparent tensions with Iran, a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, threaten to hold up efforts to end the six-year civil war. Russia, Turkey and Iran decided to set up a joint military center to oversee the implementation of the truce.

“We appreciate that they have moved to a peace track and confirmed to them that we are cooperative in that regard, as long as they are serious,” Aridi said of Russia. “It’s their job as guarantors to take care of other parties who are not helping them achieve something at a political level.”

The Kremlin envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, who led his country’s delegation to the talks in Kazakhstan, said Tuesday that Russia had presented the rebels with the draft text of the constitution “to help speed up this process and give it some more impetus.”

“In no way do we want to interfere in the drafting and adopting of the basic law of the constitution of the country,” he said. “We believe that the Syrian people must lead this process.” MCT

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

EQUESTRIAN amplify the outcry coming from alumnae, students and those in the Northhampton community who are affected by the decision, as the barn offers a community riding program, allowing middle school and high school students to ride on equestrian teams.

Along with creating a petition that has over 1,700 signatures, Save Smith Equestrian is holding an event to spread awareness of their cause, called Breech and Boots Day of Action, where individuals are urged to take photographs on their phones posing with a real, stuffed, or hand-drawn horse, and then spread it on social media with the hashtag “savesmithequestrian.”

The event coincides with

DailyCollegian.com

Is Ryan’s plan unaffordable?

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B y T ony Pugh McClatchy Washington Bureau

CAROLINE O’CONNOR/COLLEGIAN

The Equestrian Center barn at Smith also hosted middle and high school programs. the Smith College Board of Trustees meetings on Jan. 26 and 27. Organizers are hoping that supporters’ voices will get a platform there.

“That’s are goal now, to

really engage all the voices,” said Peláez.

Jackson Cote can be reached at jkcote@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @jackson_k_cote.

WASHINGTON — As Republicans struggle to replace Obamacare, House Speaker Paul Ryan wants to make state highrisk pools part of the solution –but doing so would resurrect a failed coverage model that suffered from high premiums, poor funding and limits on coverage, say independent health care experts.

Republicans are meeting in Philadelphia this week, and health care coverage is expected to be a major topic. GOP congressmen and senators plan to meet Thursday with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Congress took the first step toward repeal this month, passing a measure calling for lawmakers to deliver repeal plans by Friday. They’re unlikely to meet that deadline.

Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, offered a detailed blueprint last year of how he’d replace the 2010 law that required nearly everyone to obtain health insurance coverage.

Before Obamacare became law, 18 percent of Americans were denied individual insurance coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions such as high blood pressure or cancer, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In Kentucky, North Carolina and Ohio, Kaiser found, 1 in 3 applicants was typically denied.

In 35 states, 226,000 people who were unable to get private insurance in the days before Obamacare found coverage through state high-risk pools, a safety-net program for the medically uninsurable.

The pools covered only about 2 percent of eligible individual-market enrollees in those states, said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at Kaiser.

Republicans are adamant that they want most Obamacare provisions repealed, but they want to keep its popular measure barring insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

Under Obamacare, those more costly consumers’ premiums are supposed to be held down because they’re part of a pool that includes healthier people.

Ryan would put some of the higher-cost people with previous medical conditions into a special pool. That allows private insurers to charge lower premiums for everyone else.

“State high-risk pools are a smarter way of guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,” Ryan said during an appearance on CNN earlier this month.

But most experts agree that the state-run pools were largely a failure, suffering from poor funding, which led to restrictions on enrollment and benefits along with higher premiums. Pool coverage costs were typically 50 percent to 100 percent above private market rates, Pollitz said.

Over their decades of availability, the pools weren’t an option for many people who needed them because of their high cost and benefit limits, like a standard six- to 12-month waiting period to cover pre-existing conditions.

“That was kind of a big deal-breaker for most

people who looked at the high-risk pools,” Pollitz said.

The Affordable Care Act changed all that by requiring individual and small-group insurers to offer coverage regardless of past or current health problems. As a result, most high-risk pools ended.

But if Ryan’s proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare drops the individual-coverage guarantee, many with pre-existing conditions could find themselves, once again, struggling for affordable coverage.

“There’s absolutely no question that we will return to a market in which many people with pre-existing conditions will be unable to access affordable, comprehensive insurance that covers their needs,” said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

Ryan’s 2016 plan would allow Obamacare enrollees with pre-existing conditions to retain their coverage – but only if they don’t let their policies lapse. Doing so and facing disqualification from future coverage “could be a harsher financial hit than the individual mandate on many families,” Corlette said, referring to the Obamacare requirement that most people have health insurance.

For those who don’t maintain their coverage – and there will be many, due to job losses and layoffs – Ryan’s proposal provides $25 billion to states to fund high-risk pool coverage over 10 years.

That’s in the ballpark of what states were spending before the Affordable Care Act, Pollitz said.

Ryan’s plan would also provide federal subsidies to help pay for the coverage. But the amounts would be less than the marketplace subsidies available under Obamacare, said Pollitz.

“By financing state high-risk pools to guarantee people get affordable coverage when they have a pre-existing condition, what you’re doing is you’re dramatically lowering the price of insurance for everybody,” Ryan said earlier this month.

But each risk-pool enrollee requires an average of $7,000 to $10,000 a year in public funding, said Harold Pollack, a professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration who has studied risk pools.

Nationally, $30 billion to $50 billion a year is needed to fully fund the pools, Pollack said.

“And I don’t see anybody putting up that kind of money. And even if they did, I think (the pools are) a very poor mechanism to solve a problem that the ACA has basically already addressed in a better way,” Pollack added. “The experience of high-risk pools is that they are typically underfunded, and because they are underfunded they don’t treat people very well who are counting on them.”

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

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SOCIAL MEDIA case, a friend saw the live stream and called the police but they arrived too late.

Nakia’s death arrived weeks after a 12-year-old Georgia girl hanged herself in her front yard and also streamed it live. Various websites picked up the footage, despite requests from the victim’s family and local police departments to stop posting it.

In May 2016, a 19-year-old woman in France recorded her suicide on Periscope when she threw herself under a train, according to The New York Times.

In 2008, a 19-year-old man from Pembroke Pines, Fla., livestreamed his suicide via webcam. Abraham Biggs overdosed on opiates and benzodiazepine in front of a live web audience, after he posted suicidal thoughts and plans to kill himself.

Howard M. Talenfeld, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and president of the Florida’s Children First advocacy group, said in a news conference Wednesday that case workers knew Nakia had serious mental health problems.

The teen had been sexually abused by a 14-year-old boy when she was 7 and in foster care, Talenfeld said.

There also were reports of her sexually acting out online, he said. The courts had ordered intensive therapy for Nakia, Talenfeld said, and she was hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act last year after it was determined she was a danger to herself.

Yet after she was released in April, Talenfeld said Nakia was shuttled between 10 different placements before landing at the foster home in Miami Gardens, where she had internet access.

Some South Florida psychologists say young people today have an instinctual need to record and share what happens in their lives.

And these experts worry that as more of these broadcast suicides occur, there may be copycats. Friends or acquaintances struggling with their own issues may be influenced by the outpouring over the loss of another teen on social media.

“Some 20 years ago, you may have called someone,” said William Dorfman, a psychology professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla. “Everything now is published online and shared through friends. (The suicide) is a tragic thing but from a psychological point of view, I would see this as in some way a desperate communication for the pain this kid obviously had been experiencing.”

“It was a cry for help,” said Isabel Gomez-Bassols, a psychologist and the former head of psychological services for alternative education for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

She was talking about the suicide on her Spanishlanguage radio show on LaRedHispana.org on Wednesday. “Suicide is a form of violence against yourself because you have lost hope. She was livestreaming the event, that shows you how violent the girl felt. She showed the amount of desperation and sadness she had.”

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, according to the Florida Suicide Prevention Coalition, a grassroots group of advocates formed in 2002.

Teenage girls attempt suicide more often than boys, according to Florida’s coalition, but boys complete suicide five times more often than girls. Nine out 10 teen suicides happen at home. About half

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of teens who killed themselves were in trouble at school or with the law, or abused alcohol or drugs.

Although Nakia was in foster care, it was not immediately known if she was being cyberbullied in school or what her home situation was like. Her foster parents were asleep in their bedroom when she hanged herself, according to the Miami Herald.

“Being in foster care is not the best. Kids in foster care don’t have many belongings. These kids are more vulnerable,” added Gomez-Bassols. “Was there any bullying happening to her in social media? Was the school aware of her suicidal feelings? Did she tell anyone ‘look at what’s happening to me?’ “ It was not clear why Nakia was in foster care but Gina Alexis, Nakia’s biological mother who was at the news conference Wednesday, broke down sobbing and had to leave the room. “Nakia was my baby girl. I am sick and devastated,” she said.

Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of MiamiDade Public Schools, posted on Twitter that he was “devasted and angered that the promising life of this precious child met such a tragic and disturbing ending.”

He told the Miami Herald that social media companies have failed to mitigate the effects of cyber bullying, which can lead to suicide among youngsters.

A statement from Facebook spokeswoman Christine Chen highlighted the company’s community standards and how users can report posts or Facebook Live feeds where someone may be in imminent danger.

“Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users and we have systems in place to ensure that time sensitive content is dealt with quickly,” she wrote in an email. “The vast majority of people are using Facebook Live to come together and share experiences in the moment with their friends and family.

But if someone does violate our community standards while using Live, we want to interrupt these streams as quickly as possible when they’re reported to us, so we’ve given people a way to report violations during a live broadcast. We will also notify law enforcement if we see a threat that requires an immediate response, and suggest people contact emergency services themselves if they become aware of something where the authorities can help.”

Now mental health experts worry about possible copycat public suicides.

A 2014 study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, reported that certain types of media coverage might be associated with suicide clusters among young people.

“People take other people’s behavior as a guide for their own,” said Ryne Sherman, associate professor of psychology in Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in Boca Raton.

“The difference here is that this is bypassing the media ... This is putting it live on broadcast for anyone to see.

This is a national and international broadcast. The clustering effect has global reach.”

BORDER WALL among immigrants.

Trump previewed his executive action Tuesday night, tweeting : “Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow.

Among many other things, we will build the wall!”

The first order signed by Trump directs the agency to begin building the wall, but still requires Congress to approve the estimated billions of dollars in funding to construct the 2,000-milelong barrier. In the meantime, the Homeland Security budget includes about $175 million set aside for upgrading Border Patrol buildings and adding new equipment, which along with other funds could be diverted quickly to start construction.

Details from one version of the directive reviewed by the Los Angeles Times/ Tribune Washington Bureau would include a requirement that the agency publicly detail aid it is giving to Mexico - highlighting Trump’s pledge to force that country to pay for the wall.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is scheduled to visit the White House next week to discuss trade, another Trump priority.

The memo also includes language allowing federal law enforcement to access federal land for border security, a possible attempt to head off environmental lawsuits that could hold up construction. It would also prioritize border prosecutions and referrals to the Department of Justice.

The second action withholds funds to punish sanctuary cities that limit cooperation with immigration officials. It includes directions for aggressive interior immigration enforcement and an advocacy office for victims of crimes committed by those in the country illegally. Relatives of those victims were often onstage with Trump during campaign rallies.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a close ally of the new administration, telegraphed the sanctuary cities announcement during a speech Wednesday to the conservative Heritage Foundation. He called it a “common-sense” action that would “drive the left crazy.”

Beyond those actions, Trump is also looking at new restrictions on refugees and visitors, to follow through on his campaign promise to bar Muslims from entering the country for a period of

Thursday, January 26, 2017

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CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/SIPA USA/TNS

U.S. President Donald Trump displays one of the executive orders he signed during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017 in Washington, D.C. time. That pledge has been one of Trump’s most polarizing, drawing criticism from leaders in his own party, along with Democrats and security experts, but approval from many of his supporters.

One memo he is reviewing would block all refugees from entering the U.S. for 120 days and restrict admissions and some visa applicants for people from countries where the U.S. has counterterrorism concerns, not only Syria but also Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The draft order temporarily suspends the U.S. refugee program while new vetting procedures are put in place and officials decide whether refugees from some countries should be blocked permanently from admission. This step would likely arouse an international outcry, given the historic role that the U.S. and other industrialized nations have long held in taking in victims of war and oppression.

The draft orders the U.S. stop admitting refugees from Syria indefinitely until a review of security screening is complete. Trump also instructed the secretaries of state and defense to come up with a plan to create “safe areas” in Syria and nearby countries where Syrians could wait for resettlement.

That could open the U.S. military to deeper engagement in the Middle East.

In addition, the Department of Homeland Security would review how visas are issued and whether some countries should be required to provide more

information before their citizens are allowed entry to the U.S., according to the draft order. The results of that review could allow Trump to block or slow visa issuance to countries with large Muslim populations or with terrorism concerns, a de facto ban on Muslims.

The order goes beyond the Muslim world, however, creating new restrictions on visitors from some of America’s closest allies. It would suspend the visa waiver program - widely used by citizens from 38 countries, including most European countries, Australia, Japan and Chile - which grants citizens of those countries a 90-day tourist visa after they submit their biographical information to a screening check. The new policy would require in-person interviews for most citizens from those countries.

Trump is also considering lifting restrictions on harsh interrogations and renewing the use of secret overseas sites to hold terrorism suspects, both widely seen as dark chapters of the post-9/11 era, as he looks to follow through on his campaign promise to ramp up targeting of Islamic militants.

During the campaign, Trump repeatedly said he would bring back waterboarding and other harsh tactics that were part of the so-called enhanced interrogation program, which was installed after the Sept. 11 attacks and widely considered a stain on the CIA’s record. A Senate Intelligence Committee report in 2014 concluded that the torture

methods diminished U.S. standing in the world and failed to produce significant intelligence.

Aides have prepared executive actions to lift bans on both, according to a draft document being circulated.

Spicer denied that it was a White House document.

Trump is expected to ask national security officials to review what interrogation methods are allowed under the Army Field Manual.

Techniques that go beyond what the manual allows were outlawed by Congress in 2014.

He could also order the CIA to consider bringing back the use of so-called black sites for secretly holding terrorism suspects, a practice Obama banned in 2009, as well as sending detainees to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Trump’s CIA director, Mike Pompeo, repeatedly told senators at his confirmation hearing that he would not restart the CIA’s use of secret prisons and would refuse any orders from the White House to torture suspects. The CIA and the military’s Joint Special Operations Command are expected to play a major role in increasing attacks on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, a priority for Trump.

During his inaugural address, Trump promised to “eradicate from the face of the Earth” Islamic terrorist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Trump’s tweet Pittsburgh woman baffles Chicago charged by Feds

By Jeremy Gorner Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Wednesday he’s baffled by the meaning of President Donald Trump’s latest tweet on Chicago violence but said he would oppose bringing in the National Guard if that is what the president is considering.

“The statement is so broad.

I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Johnson said of Trump’s tweet Tuesday night threatening to “send in the Feds!” if Chicago “doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage.’“ In a telephone interview, Johnson told the Chicago Tribune he hasn’t been contacted by the Trump administration and didn’t believe Mayor Rahm Emanuel or other city officials had been either.

If Trump meant in his tweet that he might bring in the National Guard to help quell the city’s violence, Johnson said he would be

opposed to that.

He was not sure what authority the troops would have, but he didn’t believe they would have the power to make arrests.

“They’re not trained for this type of action,” he said.

Johnson said he does not oppose increased assistance from the federal government – whether that would mean more agents from the FBI and ATF or more help geared toward youth living in Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods.

“We would use (federal funding for) mentorship programs, after-school programs,” he said. “Those are the things I think we can use.”

Trump tweeted that “if Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24 percent from 2016), I will send in the Feds!”

Homicides exceeded 760 in 2016, the worst in two decades, and seemingly runaway violence has continued so far in January.

B y T orsten O ve Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

P I T T S BU RG H — Federal prosecutors have charged a Pittsburgharea woman with stealing at least $9.5 million from North Shore-based Matthews International.

Cynthia Mills, a former employee, had long been under investigation, and federal prosecutors had previously moved to seize cash, cars and a yacht from her and her husband.

Prosecutors on Tuesday filed a complaint against Mills, 55, the former treasury specialist for Matthews’ Bronze Division, charging her with mail fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion and money laundering.

She and her lawyer have indicated she will waive indictment and plead guilty on March 15 before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer.

The theft first surfaced when Matthews, of

Robinson Township, said in a third-quarter financial report released in July 2015 that a former employee was suspected of stealing $14 million.

Prosecutors said Mills stole $9.5 million between 1999 and 2015.

They said Mills was responsible for financial transactions at Matthews – including initiating wire transfers to pay vendors – and moved embezzled funds into bank accounts she maintained in her name and that of her husband, Gary Mills.

Gary Mills has not been charged.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said previously in forfeiture papers that Cynthia Mills bought a $645,000 yacht and Mercedes cars with stolen money and deposited some of the funds into a First National Bank account in the name of her company, Designs by Cindy.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Thursday, January 26, 2017

“The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” - George Orwell

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

This is what democracy looks like The “Women’s March” they preached stayed with began organically, with one me as the night got darker woman inviting around 40 and the chants got louder.

As a Harry Potter fan, Tess Halpern the other poster that naturally caught my eye was the of her Facebook friends one with a picture of Madto join her on a march to Eye Moody and the words protest Donald Trump. But “Constant Vigilance” writthat event grew and evolved ten on it, but once again with the anger that was felt it was the girl holding the toward our 45th president, sign that truly grabbed my and millions of people took attention. 13-year-old Grace to the streets the day after walked next to her mom, his inauguration across the holding her sign high and country and around the yelling as loudly as all the world. adults around her.

Waiting on the train plat- When I finally caught form early that morning, up to Grace to compliment a woman in her mid-20s her poster, she explained to approached my family and me that this was her first I, sign and large coffee in protest, but hopefully not hand and “p*ssy hat” proud- her last. She went on to ly in place. After compar- say that she’s wanted to go ing slogans and discussing into politics ever since she our respective strategies for was a young girl watching navigating the crowded city, Condoleezza Rice. the woman began express- “That’s when I knew that ing her excitement for the women CAN do this!” Grace march.

With a huge grin she said, “Never in my lifetime have I seen so many people mobilizing for a cause!”

And she was entirely correct.

The city streets were mobbed with people who felt small, and were coming together to make a big statement. But said, as her mom looked on as I walked among the sea from a step behind. of thousands, those that Grace and the young sibstood shoulder to shoulder lings were unique but not with me began to blend into alone, as children dotted one another. It was those the crowd block after block. that walked with their eyes Boys dressed as superheroes level to my knees that truly sat on their father’s shoulcaught my attention and ders and kids took naps in ultimately made the largest strollers as moms marched impact. along. I saw one mom carry There were a lot of unique ing her five-month-old son chants that I heard through- on her back, with matching out the day (including “Free pink p*ssy hats for the pair.

Melania” and “Pence sucks But at the end of the too”), but my favorite by march, as I sat on the train far was one of the quietest going back home, I didn’t I heard. Walking up Fifth find myself feeling any betAvenue, I suddenly heard ter about our country or the two small voices yelling situation that we are in. A “Donald Trump is a meanie” protest ultimately does not at the top of their lungs. accomplish anything. We A young sibling duo were gathered, we marched and the source of the commotion, we made noise, but Donald holding a crudely drawn Trump is still our president. sign with the words “Share I thought back to the inciyour love. Don’t be afraid” dent earlier in the mornwritten in rainbow letters ing, when the woman at the and adorned with hearts. I train station was chattering didn’t have a chance to speak away about her excitement with these two before they to mobilize. As she and my were lost in the crowd, but cousins agreed with one the innocence with which another, their energy and

excitement radiating off of them, my mom became quietly emotional on the outskirts of our small circle.

My mom explained to me that she has seen this kind of mobilization in her lifetime.

She has fought this fight for decades, and while she is proud to continue fighting, it is disheartening that she has to do so.

This march did not break the glass ceiling. This march did not end misogyny. This march did not silence Donald Trump, nor his ideologies.

But while this march did not make me feel any safer or any more confident in the next four years, it did make me feel extremely hopeful for the next 10 years, and the next 10 years after that. It made me hopeful for Grace’s generation, and the generation of that five-month-old child in their small pink hat.

I don’t understand the pain my mom felt earlier today, and I hope that I won’t understand it when I am her age either.

I hope that I won’t have to again march among thousands protesting for the rights of women, telling my children about the time I walked up Fifth Avenue with their grandma, chanting about the president with tiny hands who bragged about grabbing women by the p*ssy.

I hope that one day I won’t have to continue fighting, but I also know that if there is still a fight to be fought that Grace and I will be there, watching our children marvel at the amount of people mobilizing for a cause as they hold their crudely drawn signs adorned with hearts.

Donald Trump is our president, but his morals are not our morals, and they are not the morals of our children. I watched that day as young children proudly stood up for kindness in the face of such powerful hate, and although I am still fearful for my future and the futures of those children, I am confident in our ability to make those futures bright.

“But while this march did not make me feel any safer or any more confident in the next four years, it did make me feel extremely hopeful for the next ten years, and the next ten years after that.”

Tess Halpern is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at tjhalpern@uamss.edu.

NSA surveillance can’t go unchecked Barack Obama is no lon- Regardless of the morality ger the president, but some or legality of doing so, some of his actions may still sig- might have believed that the executive office would not Edridge D’Souza misuse this power and only use it to stop national secunificantly affect us in the rity threats. However, in coming days. Namely, in the past year, we’ve learned early-mid January, he gave not to believe conventional 16 agencies¬, including the wisdom very much. Former Department of Homeland President Obama essentialSecurity, the Federal ly weaponized the power of Bureau of Investigation, the federal government and and the Drug Enforcement subsequently handed it over Administration, access to to someone he believes is information collected by the unfit to serve.

National Security Agency’s People might have been (NSA) controversial (and willing to accept such proarguably unconstitutional) grams under what they perwarrantless surveillance ceive to be a benign adminprogram. In essence, the istration, but let this be a incoming Trump admin- reminder that power can istration will have a much and will be transferred, and easier time targeting private when it is, it will most cercitizens using information tainly be used for different gathered by the controver- purposes than intended. In sial PRISM program.

Trump’s administration, if This should be alarming all agencies have access to to anyone who cares about personal data on every indiprivacy. The American Civil vidual, there is very little Liberties Union has described this sort of spying, conducted with little to no oversight, as blatantly illegal and in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Most of this data was previously only accessible to the NSA. However, opening it up to to stop them from abusing other agencies means that this power. Perhaps this there is a far greater threat. means selectively target Advocates of the NSA ing and arresting political will claim that there should opponents and dissenters be nothing wrong with for breaking the law, while granting wider access to ignoring supporters who this data. The common do the same. Perhaps, as it refrain is, “You shouldn’t be did for the fictional Frank worried if you have nothing Underwood of “House of to hide.” I believe the comic Cards,” this means covertly artist Zach Weinersmith collecting voter data to rig refutes this idea rather suc- elections. Or perhaps this cinctly: means using the informa“Everyone has something tion exactly as intended, to hide and usually no one with no ill intentions. cares. By surveilling every- The problem is, no one one, you catch the benign knows. There is absolutely breaches of law and taboo,” no way for any citizen to a character in his comic know how the government says while being monitored. is using this power, and with “If the public are all guilty, Trump’s record on transthe executive part of the parency, it seems we’re not government can selectively likely to find out. Even if enforce laws…which defeats the latter case is true, and the whole point of separa- the Trump administration tion of powers.” only uses this vast amount Expanding access to this of power for necessary occawarrantless data will there- sions, there is no oversight fore only increase the power and no way to independentof the executive office. ly verify that it is not being

abused. This runs in direct contrast to the constitutional vision of a government constrained by the people.

How can this be stopped?

Well, it really can’t. We’ll just have to wait and see what this incoming administration does, and try to hold them accountable when something goes wrong.

However, this serves as a valuable lesson to all political parties in the future: do not give excessive power to the federal government, because it can and will fall into the hands of the people you least want it to.

In fact, this rule holds true for the legislative branch as well. In 2013, congressional Democrats voted for a “nuclear option” that would drastically reduce the Republicans’ power to block presidential appointments. Now that there is a Republican president making the appointments, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he regrets it. Had the old system been in place, Democrats might still be able to block many of Trump’s controversial Cabinet picks.

The take-away from this is that all rules can and will be abused. The public may have perceived Bush and Obama as relatively benign, conducting warrantless surveillance only for our own good.

But there’s nothing benign about unconstitutional spying. Although there’s no telling as of yet how Trump will use this power, it’s not far-fetched that he, like his predecessors, will also continue the unchecked expansion of executive power.

However, with a less-charismatic figurehead, people will hopefully be a bit more careful before allowing the federal government to expand its authority and take away their constitutional rights. Donald Trump has promised to “drain the swamp” of Washington; let’s wait and see if he’ll also “drain the swamp” of executive power.

“However, this serves as a valuable lesson to all political parties in the future: do not give excessive power to the federal government, because it can and will fall into the hands of the people you least want it to.”

Edridge D’Souza is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at edsouza@umass.edu.

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FILM REVIEW

Natalie Portman shines as the grieving ‘Jackie’

By Isaac Simon

ry. In President Kennedy’s inaugural address, he references the passing of the torch “to a new generation of Americans.” Through “Jackie,” we come to learn that for a brief moment, that torch was passed to Kennedy.

As Johnson presided over, and tried to move the nation forward as the 36th president, Kennedy presided over

Collegian Staff

“Jackie” is, among many things, an interesting film.

It combines strong storytelling and brilliant artistic performances into one medium. The film, which is centered around an interview the former first lady, Jackie Kennedy, gave for Theodore White (Billy Crudup) of “Life” magazine in 1963, teaches viewers the difference between how actual events transpire amd how they are portrayed.

It is through these scenes that we understand Kennedy as deceptive and clever. She understands what White is looking for. He wants the truth in its full form and throughout the film we see Mrs. Kennedy pull him in, giving a tell-all of how the events played out in the utmost detail.

Indeed, White understands the totality of it all, while also coming to realize that he won’t be publishing a word of the actual truth, just the manufactured version that Kennedy allows for. “Jackie” is a film that explores power and control following the tragic assassination of an American icon.

Natalie Portman is magnificent in her portrayal.

Whether it be her walk, her body language, or the slightest intonations in her voice, Portman captures the essence of Kennedy while also doing justice to both her and her husband’s indelible legacy.

The way most Americans perceived Kennedy prior to

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Anchored by a moving performance from Natalie Portman, “Jackie” takes us into Jackie Kennedy’s mind during a dark hour in American history. the President’s death mirrors the way the film depicts the first lady. As the third youngest first lady in this country’s history, Kennedy was often understood as passive and submissive, the wife who stood on the sidelines and provided cheerful exuberance and elegance.

The same holds true in “Jackie.” In the few scenes that include President Kennedy, the first lady is very dependent on him, want-

ing him wherever she is as a crutch. Once Kennedy is killed, the country begins to look at her with nothing but sympathy and pity.

In “Jackie,” such sentiment only amplifies Kennedy’s sense of discomfort and dissatisfaction. In fact, one way to understand the film is to view the assassination as a time when Kennedy showed true courage and leadership in the face of an unimaginable tragedy.

The immediate aftermath of President Kennedy’s death along with the lead up to the funeral is juxtaposed with the tour Kennedy gave of the White House to CBS to 80 million people in Feb. 1962, perhaps the first time that Kennedy truly threw herself into the spotlight.

In “Jackie,” the viewers are made to understand how obsessed Kennedy is with her husband’s legacy, and the legacies of presidents past. The

a nation in mourning.

One of the more powerful scenes in the film is when Kennedy needs to explain her husband’s death to their two children, Caroline and John Jr. Instead of saying that he died, she says that he went to go be with his brother Patrick in heaven. Portman’s language and poise during this part of the film are particularly striking. It’s as if the president had to die because he was needed elsewhere.

“Jackie” suggests that it is in this way that Kennedy is immortal.

This film also suggests that Kennedy’s internal predicament becomes one that is shared by the entire nation.

Ultimately though, the film does Kennedy justice, illuminating how a woman who was dealt an impossible hand dealt with a tragedy that was both personal and national in scope. “Jackie” sheds light on the power of storytelling and how the characters that are created become more important than the people they

televised tour of the White House helps illuminate this reality, and “Jackie” helps personify how important it was for Kennedy to preserve her husband’s mark on America.

The death of President Kennedy marked a turning point for the nation, forever altering the direction it would take. The swearing in represent. of President Johnson pro- vided a solemn reminder Isaac Simon can be reached at about the passing of histo- isimon@umass.edu.

TELEVISION REVIEW

‘The OA’ possesses plenty of mystery and not much else New Netflix show can’t find its voice

By Daniel Monahan Collegian Correspondent Nobody in television right now understands that audiences love a good mystery more than Matt and Ross Duffer, creators of the smash hit “Stranger Things.” The successful homage to 1980s pop culture based much of its early advertising to the mystery behind the disappearance of a young boy named Will Byers.

In its attempt to inherit some of the above-mentioned show’s success, “The OA” lags behind in the wake left by the Duffer Brothers.

The eight-episode spiritual drama, created by filmmakers Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling, has a whole lot of ambition and guts, but never fully realizes its potential as genre-bending and plot holes give way to an unfortunate demise during the final chapter. The finale can be characterized by cheap twists and the admittedly offensive, shallow use of a public tragedy as a plot device.

“The OA” opens on a cellphone video of a woman running to the edge of the bridge, looking back at the camera for only a moment before she jumps. Our main character, Prairie, wakes up in a hospital covered in bizarre scars, unwilling to tell anyone how she ended up on that bridge.

Seven years ago, a young blind woman Prairie (played

by Marling herself) vanished from her town without a trace. Upon her sudden return, she mysteriously has regained her sight without explanation.

JOJO WHILDEN/NETFLIX

This ambitious, dreamlike mystery can’t find its focus, though it has plenty of excellent supporting performances and an eye-catching color palette.

Prairie returns home to the suburbs with her parents (Scott Wilson and Alice Krige) and tries to cope with the story she has concealed.

Struggling with the return to normalcy, she befriends a group of misfit high school boys and a lonely school teacher. Meeting in secret each night, Prairie decides to reveal her story to only these specific people.

Most of the series is spent shifting back and forth between the present and Prairie’s seven-year absence.

There is enough mystery to sustain interest for a majority of the series. However,

it becomes less rewarding to watch as the mystery begins to collapse atop the thinlywritten characters and insufficient subplots barely supporting it.

“The OA” attempts to juggle tropes from multiple genres (sci-fi, mystery, fantasy and high school melodrama) throughout the series. As it tries to meld the mysterious allure of “Stranger Things” with “Sense8’s” ideas of spiritual connectivity, the series often fails to find a main focus. The season seems to peak at the moments farthest from reality and experiences many small successes deep

within the experimentation of its narrative.

Batmanglij directs nearly every episode with a high level of poise and beauty, skillfully transitioning from the present to the past without causing viewers any major headaches. He and cinematographer Lol Crawley utilize cooler color palates and soft lighting features in order to create a spiritual and dreamlike atmosphere, lending itself to the intention of the series.

The flimsy script is made tolerable by wonderful supporting performances from Alice Krige, Patrick Gibson,

not be well-rounded, but it does make up for some flaws in its unabashed sincerity.

On the surface, none of it makes sense. The show only works if the audience willingly allows themselves to be pulled into the story and they ignore blatant plot holes stemming from the farfetched premise. “The OA” is so steeped in self-seriousness that audiences will find it difficult to hold back chuckles during scenes that are not intentionally humorous.

At its best, “The OA” is an ambitious sci-fi/fantasy mystery that aims to push the boundaries of narrative and expand the minds of those who look onward. The series makes you ponder some of life’s scariest and interesting quandaries, it intrigues you, and even entertains you. In the end, though, it stumbles over its own ambition and poses more questions than it seems willing to answer.

Perhaps “The OA” achieved its goal regardless of these flaws. Perhaps there isn’t supposed to be any direct answers to the questions the audience is left to ask.

As far as a Netflix series goes, there are better ways to use your time and the seven hour plus runtime may not be worth the underwhelming twists and downright distasteful finale. The good news is that despite all of its failures, Netflix allowed a series this magical and absurd to exist in the first place.

Jason Isaacs, Phyllis Smith, and Riz Ahmed. Marling, having to bear the brunt of the cheesy and pseudophilosophical lines, delivers a beautiful performance that makes even the most unbelievable portions of the series seem plausible.

Even with plot holes and a lackluster script, there is something to be said about the final product here. It’s certainly ambitious. Batmanglij and Marling at the least aim to create a show that defies expectations and has wellintentioned messages about agency, traumatic experienc- Daniel Monahan can be reached at es, and death. The series may dmonahan@umass.edu.

6

Thursday, January 26, 2017

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SWIMMING AND DIVING

UMass visits Fordham in final regular season meet

By Henry Brechter Collegian Staff

With just one regular season meet remaining for the University of Massachusetts swimming and diving team, coaches and players look to continue what has been an all-around productive season.

Just as they do nearly every season, men’s swimming approaches the Atlantic 10 Championships with sights set on another title. For the women’s swimmers, a very successful season needs to be capped off strongly for a chance at the conference championship.

And for the divers, incoming talent paired with veteran leadership has paved the way for a postseason run.

All three of these paths collide this weekend when the entirety of UMass swim and dive travels to the Bronx to take on their A-10 rival, Fordham, on Saturday.

A standard 16-event dual meet, the action begins with the 200m medley relay, the 1000m free, the 200m free, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m butterfly and the 50m free, followed by the first of two diving events, the one-meter dive.

Five more events ensue, including the 200m backstroke, the 200m breaststroke and the 500m free, which are followed by the three-meter dive. The meet concludes with the 200m individual medley, and the 200m freestyle relay.

The women’s swimmers’

success is encouraging to Minutewomen coach Bob Newcomb, but he knows they must end the season strongly in the three weeks leading up the A-10 Championships. All 11 women’s teams in the conference will compete, as well as all eight of the men’s teams.

“It’s very important to end the season on a positive note, and get the rest we need going into the Atlantic 10 Championships,” Newcomb said.

The men’s and women’s swimmers both fell short this past weekend at the Dartmouth Invitational, but still had impressive finishes. The men won six events while the women won four in a strong performance for the school. The men lost by just 18 points.

For the men, junior star Oliver Wyeth took both the 100 back and the 200 back, while also swimming a leg in his team’s 400 free relay victory.

The freshman men had a great performance. Al Madden won the 100 breast and came in second in the 200 breast, while Ryan Pedrick won the 100 free.

The men also won the 200 free relay, swam by Owen Wright, Kellen Gray, Kyle Stefanides, and Pedrick.

For the women, senior Meriza Werenski won the 400m individual medley, sophomore Rachel Grant won the 100m fly and freshman Meghan Gray won the 200m back. Divers Emma

SAINT LOUIS (59.8), Field Goal percentage (.390) and steals per game (4.6).

A 21-point performance from Aaron Hines, who played 37 minutes, helped SLU maintain its lead.

He hit five of his six free throws in the final minute to secure the win.

Careless mistakes once again plagued UMass, especially in the first half where it committed 12 turnovers, three of which came courtesy of DeJon Jarreau. Jarreau, who had zero points in the first half, stepped his game up in the second, scoring 17. He added four rebounds, four steals, playing the entire 20 minutes of the second half. “[Jarreau] was really bad in the first half,” Kellogg said of his freshman point guard. “I thought that he was one of the guys that helped them get that lead.

Just kind of carless basketball. It is not an AAU game or high school game. This is a college game on the road.

You can’t do those things.

I’m going to keep working with them and watch some tape, keep pushing them.”

“My hair is going to keep falling out and turning grey, but I do think if he can turn the corner in spurts like he did in the second half we’ll become a good college basketball

Roush, Katie Polk and Maja Boric finished first, second and third, respectively, in the three-meter dive.

Newcomb had high praises for Werenski, a defending A-10 Champion.

“She’s so hardworking, a great teammate…really a genuine individual with incredible talent…she’s had a great career here,” he said.

Since returning from the six-week winter recess, both the men and women’s swim teams have had busy schedules. The men had two meets in their second week back, while the women had four days of competition in an eight-day period.

Despite the long rest period, followed by a swift return to a vigorous schedule, Newcomb has noticed a sense of urgency among swimmers since their return to school.

“They’ve done a great job throughout the month of January,” Newcomb said.

“We had something that is very tough, which is essentially four days of competition in an eight day span.

Our swimmers did an excellent job with that.”

All three groups will have a week off before going to Storrs, CT for the UConn Invitational on Feb. 4 for the regular season finale. The Atlantic 10 Championships follow 11 days later, Feb. 15 through the 18 in Geneva, Ohio.

Henry Brechter can be reached at hbrechter@umass.edu.

continued from page 8

HOCKEY

Thursday, January 26, 2017

continued from page 8

JUDITH GIBSON-OKUNIEFF/COLLEGIAN

UMass coach Greg Carvel looks out onto the ice during the Minutemen’s 3-2 over Army Oct. 21 at Mullins Center. improve, rather than making excuses in a struggling first season, which is not foreign to first-year head coaches behind the bench in Amherst.

The Minutemen were 12-19-3 overall and 9-16-2 in the Hockey East in John Micheletto’s first season as coach in 2012, and were 8-22 in Don “Toot” Cahoon’s first season at UMass in 2000.

It’s the defense more than the offense that Carvel thinks can change the landscape of the Minutemen’s performances most.

“My goals are to see how few mistakes we can make in a game,” Carvel said. “I worry more about giving the other team free offense than what we create. I want us to be really stringent without the puck. If the other team is going to get a scoring chance, they have to earn it. They have to outwill and out-skill us.”

“I’m looking for guys who can execute our sys-

tem as close to perfect as we can,” Carvel added.

“I believe strongly that good defense leads to good offense. As soon as we get the defensive side square, that will lead to good offense.”

“We have to find a way to put pucks on net,” Minutemen senior captain Steven Iacobellis said. “I know we’ve been outshot in a lot of games this season, but we have put the puck on net and start scoring some of those dirty goals and just keep competing. We’re stressing every day just get better for the future.”

Iacobellis leads UMass with 14 points and has played in all 24 of the team’s games. The consistency hasn’t been where he nor the team would have hoped on a per-game basis to this point, but the captain relays that the Minutemen have taken significant strides since the first puck drop of the season on Oct. 7 – a credit to

BLACK BEARS

COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO

DeJon Jareau scored all 17 of his points in the second half Wednesday. team.”

Kellogg was also disappointed with Rashaan Holloway’s lack luster performance, especially given how well Holloway has played as of late.

“I’m expecting a little more especially out of Rashaan,” Kellogg said.

“He’s been playing like a first team all league guy and a guy that I think is one of the better players in the league and he had no pop tonight, didn’t get much done out there.”

Holloway scored only three points and picked up only four rebounds.

With George Mason coming to Amherst Saturday, Kellogg’s message to the team is to just stick together.

“This is really a team building time to make sure we stick together and come back and fight,” Kellogg said. “I don’t think we are that far off, but we aren’t that close. I know I keep saying that, but I think we can put it together and honestly just play smarter – just take care of the ball a little bit more and don’t put to teams to the free throw line.”

This will be the second meeting between the Patriot’s and the Minutemen this season.

George Mason came away with the 86-81 win Jan. 4, in Fairfax, Virginia.

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

7

yet to yield a goal in the year 2017, spanning the last four games where it has gone a combined 0-for22.

“We’ve changed things up in an effort to get more pucks to the net. I’m excited to see how it looks,” Carvel said. “We have to find a way to score on the power play and create scoring chances. We’ve changed the personnel up a bit in hopes of finding that spark and gives us some confidence.”

Forward Austin Plevy— who leads the Minutemen with 61 shots on goal this season—has been relatively encouraged by UMass’ changes on the power play.

“It’s looked good in practice,” Plevy said.

“Obviously the power play hasn’t been too successful

the efforts of Carvel and assistant coaches Jared DeMichiel and Ben Barr despite the team’s overall record.

“There’s definitely been a lot of improvement, no doubt about it,” Iacobellis said. “The biggest thing with us is consistency.

There’s games where we’ve really brought it and even parts of games where we’ve brought it.”

Iacobellis added: “I think we’ve come a really long way and that’s what we’ve stressed all year – not worrying about the wins and losses even if games look like they’re out of hand. When we watch film there’s a lot of things that we’ve done well and competing is one area is where we’ve improved on but we can definitely do better.”

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

continued from page 8

lately, and we’re struggling to get pucks to the net. I don’t know if we’ve changed up personnel, maybe one or two guys, but mostly we’ve set up a couple new looks to try and open things up.”

Maine enters this weekend’s games at the top of the conference in penalty minutes per game at 15.7, and is tied for the worst penalty kill in the conference at 80.4 percent.

Both teams also feature the two lowest-ranked scoring defenses in Hockey East, which would suggest a potentially high-scoring couple of contests between the Minutemen and Black Bears.

However, Carvel is more concerned with what he has seen on tape than what the statistics say.

“They play hard. They have good size and in their rink--–it’s a smaller rink--– it’s going to be a very physical game,” Carvel said.

“They thrive on crashing the net and getting pucks there. It’s very clear what their game plan is, and I respect that.”

“I think that’s good for us,” Plevy added. “If they want to run around and hit and if that’s how they want to play, it could help us out. We’re a fast team, and we’ve got some pretty fast and smart players that can take advantage of that.

Puck drop for the first game is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Nicholas Souza can be reached at njsouza@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @njsouza27.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Weekend

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Minutemen lose to SLU, fall to bottom of A-10

Loss drops UM to 2-6 in league play

went 39-for-55 from the line, the most attempts against UMass in the program’s history.

Despite the record-breakBy Philip Sanzo ing amount of free throws Collegian Staff that the Minutemen (12-9, 2-6 There are losses, there Atlantic 10) let up, they still are some bad losses and managed to fall by only four. then there was what hap- However, an 18-point deficit pened to the Massachusetts with five minutes, 54 seconds men’s basketball remaining in the team in its 74-70 first half proved SLU 74 to be a hole UMass loss to St. Louis Wednesday night. could not fight out UMass 70 of.

The game, which felt like “Obviously it lasted an eterthe first half is nity, featured a total of 86 where the game was lost free throw attempts. SLU when we went down 16

points,” Minutemen coach Derek Kellogg said in his postgame interview with WEEI Springfield. “And that was really just careless turnovers and not making plays on the offensive end.”

The loss now puts UMass in a three-way tie for last place in the A-10.

While the Billikens (6-14, 2-6 A-10) kept running up their score, the Minutemen’s scorers went cold. For a span of 7:15 between a Seth Berger layup with more than fourteen minutes left in the half and a Donte Clark free throw with a little less than seven, the Minutemen’s point total

remained frozen at eight.

In that scoreless time span, UMass fouled eight times, committed six turnovers and missed four field goals, three of which were 3-pointers.

“Even trying to make a push, you’re pressing, making some turnovers and missing wide open 3’s, we’re not obviously a high percentage 3-point shooting team,” Kellogg said. “A few of them were wide open.”

The Billikens, sitting at the bottom of conference, entered the game last in the A-10 in points per game see

SAINT LOUIS on page 7

HOCKEY

IMOGEN FAIRS/COLLEGIAN

After Wednesday night’s loss against the BIllikens, the Minutemen have now dropped six of their first eight conference games this season.

UM, Carvel look to end 2016-17 season with consistency

No rest for the weary

New HC keeping same expectations

By Kyle DaLuz Collegian Staff

IMOGEN FAIRS/COLLEGIAN

Minutemen forward Jack Suter goes for a faceoff in UMass’ 2-1 loss against in-state rival UMass Lowell Jan. 14. Suter has one goal and three assists this year.

UMass visits Maine for weekend series Black Bears tied for last in HEA

a two-game series with Maine this weekend.

The Black Bears (8-133, 2-9-1 HEA) will be the first unranked team the Nicholas Souza Minutemen will face in Collegian Staff nearly three weeks, as four The Massachusetts of their last five opponents hockey team has reigned have been ranked no lower in the New Year so far with than 11th in the nation at the toughest stretch on its the time of the game. schedule. Stretches like While Maine might not this are par for the course jump out at anyone on in the buzzsaw that is the paper, UMass coach Greg Hockey East, as UMass Carvel expects this game (5-17-2, 2-9-1 HEA) will be against the Black Bears to taking a trip to Orono for be anything but easy for

the Minutemen.

“I go into this weekend thinking we have to match Maine’s intensity,” Carvel said. “They compete. They play hard and play a very straight-forward game and if you’re not ready to compete at that level it won’t go well for us.”

Sophomore defenseman Ivan Chukarov recognizes this as well and is up for the challenge this weekend.

“They’re going to come out banging bodies,” Chukarov said. “They’re

a big team and they play physical especially down low, so we’re going to have to match their physicality.”

Both Maine and UMass are currently at the bottom of the conference standings, and the Black Bears come into the game at Alfond Arena presenting opportunities for the Minutemen to correct some recent problems.

The much maligned power play for UMass has see

BLACK BEARS on page 7

It goes unsaid how difficult it is to not only put your program in place, but to have it excel when taking over as a new head coach at any institution – be it collegiate or professional.

For Massachusetts hockey coach Greg Carvel, the challenges are the same.

Playing in arguably the toughest conference in the country, Hockey East, UMass competes with the stiffest of competition, among the likes of historic powerhouses Boston College, Boston University and Providence College.

The Minutemen hold a 5-17-2 record overall and are 2-9-1 in conference through 24 games. UMass has lost five straight dating back to Dec. 31 and are averaging exactly 2.008 goals per game while allowing 3.4692 to the opposition – which ranks last in both scoring offense and defense in Hockey East.

Moreover, the power play is struggling mightily. The Minutemen are a lowly 14-for-135 on the man advantage (10.4 percent), which is also last in the conference.

“After our first 12 games, I saw us take some good steps. I think after our second third of games, I’d like to see us be a little bit ahead in being able to create offense,” Carvel said after practice Tuesday. “That’s

probably the one area – and the power play is a big part of it – we’re scoring one or two goals a game and that’s one area where we should be able to create more and score more.”

UMass is struggling, but it certainly hasn’t been for lack of effort. The talent level across players in the conference compared to those in Amherst puts the Minutemen at a disadvantage before the puck is even dropped.

But these difficulties were to be expected. In fact, the 2016-17 campaign has gone nearly exactly how Carvel envisioned it would.

“We compete and play hard,” he said. “We’re learning to defend. I wish we were better in our own end. I wish our power play was better. Those are really the only two areas I think we could be better.

On the whole, the year has gone almost exactly how I thought it would. I didn’t know if we’d win five, eight or 10 games. Honestly, I come out of games like the Boston College game (6-1 defeat) with a lopsided score and didn’t think we played that badly.”

UMass has 10 games remaining, essentially onethird of its season, with four games to be played at the Mullins Center and another six on the road at fellow conference arenas, beginning this Friday with a road doubleheader at Maine.

Carvel is looking inward and at his team to see

HOCKEY on page 7

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Minutewomen blow 18-point lead against Explorers

By Thomas Johnston

A-10) offense was struggling after making only one field goal until that point in the second half.

After blowing a 15-point Then, La Salle began executing fourth quarter lead Saturday its offense and went on a 14-4 run, against George Washington, the cutting the Minutewomen lead to Massachusetts women’s basket- 52-42 going into the fourth quarter. ball team needed to find a way to The Explorers offense erupted close out games. Wednesday after- for 26 points in the final frame noon, UMass once again after scoring only 25 watched a second half in the first half alone.

La Salle 68 Their offense was paced lead falter away, falling to La Salle 68-64 at Tom Gola by guard Amy Griffin, UMass 64 who had eight of her Arena in Philadelphia.

With five minutes, 37 17 points in the fourth seconds remaining in the quarter, six of which third quarter, it looked as though came in the final 1:28 of the game. the Minutewomen (9-132, ( 3-6 “It came down to executing in the Atlantic 10) would cruise to an easy fourth period, turning the ball over victory. UMass was leading by 18 and not executing both offensively points and the Explorers (112-8, 5-3 and defensively down the stretch,” Collegian Staff

UMass coach Tory Verdi said after the game.

“That pretty much sums it up.”

The Explorers cut the Minutewomen lead down to one with 1:28 to go courtesy of a Griffin jumper. After a missed layup from UMass guard Leah McDerment, Griffin got to the line on La Salle’s next possession and converted one of two free throws to tie the game with 31 seconds remaining. The Minutewomen had held the lead from the 6:03 mark in the first quarter.

On UMass’ final possession, there was a lazy handoff and La Salle’s Jasmine Alston poked the ball away from McDerment, and got sentand was t to the line with five seconds left.

Alston missed the first free throw, but sunk the second to give the Explorers their first lead of the second half. UMass inbounded the ball, but Griffin intercepted a McDermott crosscourt pass and drilled a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“We have to grow up,” Verdi said.

“When the game gets tough, we have to step up and counter punch and have confidence, and everyone needs to do their jobs when called upon and step up.”

The Minutewomen finished the game with 22 turnovers, 14 of which were steals by the Explorers.

Freshmen Hailey Leidel finished the game with a double-double, scoring a game-high 20 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. McDerment,

center Maggie Mulligan and senior Alyx Stiff each finished with 12 points. La Salle was led by sophomore Adreana Miller, who had 18 points on six 3-pointers.

Verdi was not pleased with the way his team closed out the game, and hopes that they can learn from the past two games in which they held large second half leads.

“I’m not necessarily sure [our execution] is happening when times are tough, when the game is on the line for whatever reason,” Verdi said. “It’s an area we need to continue to grow in and develop and continue to teach.”

Thomas Johnston can be reached at tjohnston@umass.edu or followed on Twitter @TJ__Johnston.