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DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Tips to know for ‘Blarney Blowout’ Tickets for Blarney show still available By Will Soltero Collegian Correspondent As Mar. 4 weekend and “Blarney Blowout” approaches at the University of Massachusetts, several changes are to be expected in terms of University policy and police presence around the campus and in the community. With events such as the “Mullins Live!” concert entering its third year, the University hopes to build upon the positive results of last year’s Blarney weekend and avoid a repeat of the infamous Blarney Blowout of 2014. A variety of notices have been sent to UMass students from Residential Life, Parking Services, and Off-Campus Student Life detailing what to expect for this upcoming weekend. However, the
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UMass Police Department was unavailable to comment. Here is a guide for all you need to know.
Know the changes to the Residential Guest Policy. Starting Thursday, Mar. 2 at 8 p.m. and continuing through Sunday, March 5 at 11.p.m., students living in residence halls may sign in up to four UMass students as guests. Non-UMass guests must be checked out prior to the beginning of the weekend by 8 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 2. Residence hall security desk hours will be expanded for the duration of the weekend to enforce the planned changes, with security in place from 12 p.m. Friday until midnight on Sunday.
Expect a strong police presence. see
BLARNEY on page 2
AAKANKSHA GUPTA/COLLEGIAN
Eileen Baah, a public health sciences major speaks with a representative at the IPO Study Abroad Fair Wednesday, March 1 in the Student Union Ballroom.
UMass students rally during Advocacy Day Students advocated against tuition hikes By Abigail Charpentier Collegian Correspondent
Students from public universities and colleges in Massachusetts gathered in the State House in Boston to advocate against rising tuition and schooling fees on Wednesday for Advocacy Day. The event, hosted by the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, was held at the State House, and allowed students to share their personal stories of affording college with legislators and representatives. Students asked for legislators to invest in faculty and campuses and protect immi-
grant students and communities. Students specifically were asked to lobby for the Finish Line Grant, a bill that provides one year of free tuition and fees after a student’s first year. Although State Sen. Stan Rosenberg was unavailable, his Senior Legislative Aide Stephen Maher, was able to give insight to Rosenberg’s stance. Maher talked about Rosenberg attending the University of Massachusetts and how “It took him almost 10 years to get that degree because, like many of you, he did not have a support structure that was able to pay for him to go to college.” “Higher education will continue to be a priority for Stan,” Maher said. State Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis, despite being one of
Framingham’s representatives, was happy to sit down with UMass students to discuss public higher education. Lewis explained the most effective way to advocate is to write emails and personal letters sharing your story to your representative and state senator. “We need to do everything in our power to make sure that everyone who lives in the Commonwealth has access to higher education,” Lewis said. Lily Wallace, a UMass senior political science and BDIC major and Student Government Association vice president, explained the SGA’s role in Advocacy Day. The Center for Education Policy & Advocacy puts on the event, while the SGA financially helps out and takes a
lot of ownership in the logistics (i.e. transportation and food). The SGA wants CEPA to focus, “mostly on working collaboratively with organizations like PHENOM to create the demands, see the progress, and do the research that you’re seeing.” Wallace attended the three previous Advocacy Days because she needs to work four jobs in order to pay for the costs of school that her scholarships and federal aid do not cover. Working multiple jobs has caused her to fall behind a semester, ultimately leading to more education costs and student loans. “These people in the ivory tower are here and need to have their policies humanized,” she said. Zac Bears, the executive
director of PHENOM, shared how his family was middle class growing up and made just above the median income. Despite earning scholarships and partially paying out of pocket, Bears had to take out thousands of dollars in loans. He claims he was lucky to have only $30,000 of student debt. Bears says the only solution is to have, “empowered, informed and engaged people coming together to create and discuss in this democratic society.” He urged people to “be informed, be loud [and] be engaged.” State Rep. Natalie Higgins shared her own personal student debt struggle. After graduating from UMass, she attended graduate school and racked up $100,000 of debt. “It makes every decision
that I make a little bit harder– well, a lot harder,” she said. “We all deserve public higher education,” PHENOM student organizer Amy Blanchette said. “High-quality higher education is the right of every student in Massachusetts,” Matt Patton from Fair Shot for All said. Monica Bhakhri, a junior from Worcester State University motivated attendees, stating, “We are the future of the Commonwealth.” Following the rally, speaking program and meeting with legislators, UMass students were invited to the UMass Club for the IMPACT reception. Abigail Charpentier can be reached at acharpentier@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @abigailcharp.
Q & A: Derek Dunlea runs President Trump’s speech for student trustee position to Congress: fact-checked Dunlea to bring finance knowledge By Danny Cordova Collegian Staff
Student trustee candidate Derek Dunlea, a junior political science and economics major, is running unopposed to be the University of Massachusetts campus representative within the Board of Trustees, the legislative body of UMass. The board permits five students, each representing the five UMass campuses and elected through the student body, to vote on general policies governing the University. Dunlea currently serves as the secretary of finance in the Student Government Association. Here’s the transcript of the question-and-answer in preparation for Sunday’s SGA executive debate from 6-8 p.m.
in the Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall. SGA elections will be held from Mar. 6 to Mar. 8.
those loan amounts went up to about an average of $29,000 for people who left the University. That’s a huge increase in that timespan. As student trustee, What policies do you intend to I will be able to sit down on pursue as student trustee? the budgeting administration Derek Dunlea: “A little bit of and finance committee of the what I’ve been campaigning Board of Trustees. UMass will on has a lot to do with my have a vote on the board, so if finance background. As the I was elected to the position, I secretary of finance, I focused will have a vote in committee a lot on making sure that meetings in that board. What fees for students aren’t going that means is when I say I up. But the problem is that I want to vote against fee and don’t have any direct say in tuition increases, I can and that statement. Really, what I that’s exactly what I am going can do is observe and report. to do.” I go to administrative meetAny other policies? ings. Getting involved in the finances specifically is really DD: “I want to connect more important to me. A big rea- with graduate students. The son why is because students reality is, especially over the at this University pay a lot to past year, I learned that being come here. From 2001 to 2014, a graduate student at this it went from 50 percent of stu- University is very different dents to 75 percent of students who had loan amounts and see DUNLEA on page 2
Los Angeles Times
Presidential speeches to joint sessions of Congress normally get meticulously scrubbed to ensure accuracy. In past administrations, even minor misstatements have sometimes turned into major issues. The Trump administration has a very different relationship with facts, as has been repeatedly documented. Tuesday night’s speech by President Donald Trump had fewer untrue statements than many of his remarks, but still included several that were false or misleading. Here’s a rundown of some of the most notable claims: JOBS “Since my election, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, General Motors, Sprint, Softbank, Lockheed, Intel, Wal-Mart and many others have announced that they will invest billions
of dollars in the United States and will create tens of thousands of new American jobs.” The president often takes credit for these job announcements, but some of the decisions were made long before his election. Softbank, for example, announced its expansion plans weeks before the November election. Fiat’s chief executive has said the company’s decision to expand was made long ago and had nothing to do with Trump. “We must honestly acknowledge the circumstances we inherited ... 94 million Americans are out of the labor force.” Sounds like an ominously large number. Is it accurate? Well, if you include roughly 41 million who are retired, yes. You also have to include about 15 million students who are not looking for work. Homemakers make up anoth-
er big chunk. In short, while a large number of Americans don’t work, most of those who aren’t working have good, traditional reasons for not doing so. Hiding behind Trump’s misleading statistic is a real issue: The share of Americans who are in the labor force has gone down in recent years. Some of the decline comes from the aging of the huge baby-boom generation, now moving into retirement. But part of the decline also represents people who have dropped out because they can’t find jobs that pay enough. Economists differ about how many of those discouraged workers exist and whether that number is still on the rise.
see
TRUMP on page 3