Massachusetts Daily Collegian: February 17, 2015

The Gauntlet

Zac Bears on UMass Iranian Student Policy Page 4

UMass Basketball Prepares for Big Week Page 8

THE MASSACHUSETTS

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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

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Gettin’ jazzy with it

UM bans Iranians from admission to certain programs Decision sparks outrage, debate

By Aviva Luttrell Collegian Staff

JULIETTE SANDLEITNER/COLLEGIAN

Students perform during the UMass Graduate Jazz Composers Recital in Bezanson Recital Hall on Thursday.

RSO grooves its way into UMass’ heart Ballroom Dance Club welcomes all

By Stuart Foster Collegian Staff

All were welcome at the Student Union Ballroom last Thursday to learn a few basic dance moves and meet new, interested people at the Ballroom Dance Club’s Valentine’s Day social. Roughly 50 people attended Thursday’s social dance, many with no dance background and only heard about the club through their friends.

“We try to have socials every other week,” said Tony Volpini, a senior environmental science and microbiology major who acts as the president of the Ballroom Dance Club. “We want to get more people

interested in social dance.”

These social dances are just one activity managed by the Ballroom Dance Club, which holds practices for its roughly 100 members each week, and competes against other colleges.

“Right now, we’ve just started hosting our own competition here,” Volpini said. “We hope to expand on that.”

Volpini, who joined the club his freshman year, called his experience in the club “amazing,” and cited it as a great way to learn a practical skill while creating friendships.

Alice Metz, a junior biology major who works as the events coordinator for the club, decided to try out because of her experience in ballet. Now, she tries to stay as involved in the community as she can.

“I do as much ballroom as I can,” she said. “It’s my stress relief after classes.”

“It’s a great club and if anyone wants to try out they definitely should,” she added.

The Ballroom Dance club

has developed a very dedicated group of members, including active members of the UMass alumni who were present at Thursday’s social.

Andrew Billings, a graduate who works as a lab technician on campus and was a club captain when he was a student, sought out the club when he attended, and still has a lot of attachment to the community.

“It’s a very inviting, accepting place,” he said.

Thursday’s social had plenty of people dancing for the first time alongside veterans of the club.

Like many there, Joseph Greaney, a senior business management major, showed up to the social after learning about the club through word of mouth.

“A good friend of mine is part of the club, and she told me about it,” he said.

“I’m meeting a lot of people, and it’s a great experience.” Greaney also said he was definitely going to continue dance activities after the social.

Lindsey Melville, also a

Serving the UMass community since 1890

senior business management major who is a cocaptain, described the club as a way to “meet people who like the same things you do.”

Melville joined the club as a sophomore after an unhappy freshman year, and immediately felt comfortable with “(the) really welcoming community.”

Now, she hopes to see ways in which the club’s status on-campus can change.

“I just want it to get bigger in our age group,” she said of ballroom dancing.

“I feel like now people think it’s a dorky thing.”

Volpini also mentioned that there are misconceptions about ballroom dancing.

“It seems people don’t understand ballroom dance is a very serious thing,” he said. “If you give it the time it deserves, it takes up a lot of time.”

Stuart Foster can be reached at stuarfoster@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Stuart_C_Foster.

The University of Massachusetts’ decision to no longer admit Iranian national students into certain graduate programs has sparked widespread outrage and debate about UMass’ obligations under United States sanctions law.

The University disclosed its policy to ban Iranians from specific programs in the College of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences last week, citing sanctions imposed under the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012. The act restricts Iranian citizens from obtaining visas for higher education in the U.S. if they plan to prepare for a career in nuclear or energy related research in Iran.

All currently enrolled

Iranian students will also be required to certify their compliance with the restrictions imposed by the 2012 sanctions in writing, according to a Feb. 6 memo on the UMass website.

“The University has determined that these sanctions pose a significant challenge to our ability to provide a full program of education and research for Iranian students in certain disciplines and programs,” the memo states.

Those programs include chemical engineering; electrical and computer engineering; mechanical and industrial engineering; physics; chemistry; microbiology; and polymer science and engineering, according to the memo.

In an email Monday, a State Department official told the Collegian that there have been no changes in U.S. government policy or any new guidance that may have see

IRANIANS on page 2

Student struck and killed Sat.

Drugs and alcohol likely not factors

A University of Massachusetts student was struck and killed on Route 9 in Belchertown early Saturday morning.

The victim has been identified as Matthew T. Schiek, 20, of Freehold, New Jersey. He was hit by a pickup truck traveling eastbound near Old Amherst Road and Two Ponds Road, according to a statement from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.

CBS 3 reported that Schiek had been assisting his broken-down vehicle on the side of the road, which had its headlights and flashers on. He was struck while crossing the road to return to a residency where he and three other UMass students,

who had been traveling with him, attended a gettogether earlier that night.

Schiek had called for a taxi to take him home.

The victim was reportedly wearing dark clothing and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the pickup truck remained on the scene and cooperated with police.

Drugs, alcohol and erratic operation do not appear to have been contributing factors to the accident, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The case is being investigated by the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit, assigned to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, MSP Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section (CARS) and Belchertown PD. - Aviva Luttrell

Campus Security Authorities undergo Title IX training

By Marie MacCune Collegian Staff

The University of Massachusetts launched an online training course covering responsibilities under Title IX and the Clery Act this month which targets Campus Security Authorities, according to a University press release.

The release stated that, “Every University official who has significant responsibility for student and campus activities is identified as a (CSA) who is required by federal law to undergo the annual online course.

For the current training, 1,047 university employees have been identified as CSAs.” In an email from Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy to CSAs, he

said that the training is “an important initiative aimed at supporting the University’s commitment to safety and security.”

According to Daniel Fitzgibbons, associate director of News and Media Relations for UMass, this training is not connected to the Title IX compliance review of the University by the U.S. Department of Education.

Instead he said, “This is something that all schools are required to do under federal law. Basically, they want to make sure that institutions across the country have trained their faculty and staff to understand what is required under Title IX and under the Clery Act.” Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits dis-

crimination based on sex in education programs or activities which receive federal financial assistance, which includes UMass.

The U.S. Department of Education’s website included sexual harassment, failure to provide equal opportunity in athletics, discrimination in a school’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education courses and programs and discrimination based on pregnancy as examples of discrimination under Title IX. The Clery Act requires universities to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses.

In an annual security report, universities must document three calendar years of crime statistics as well as

include an outline of security policies and procedures and information on the basic rights of victims of sexual assault. The training course was designed for UMass

by D. Stafford and Associates, according to Fitzgibbons. According to its website, D. Stafford and Associates is a professional consulting firm that focuses on campus safety, campus law enforcement issues and Clery Act compliance.

The website explains that under the Clery Act, “It is imperative that CSAs understand the essential elements of the crimes they are required to report, the geographic locations for which crime reports must be filed and the institutional requirements regarding ongoing disclosures to the

campus community.”

According to the website, under Title IX, “It is critical that Responsible Employees understand the types of conduct that may constitute sexual harassment or misconduct under Title IX and that they further understand their related duties as Responsible Employees.”

Responsible Employees refers to university officials required to report sexual harassment and misconduct under Title IX. D. Stafford and Associates could not be reached for comment on the training designed specifically for UMass.

Marie MacCune can be reached at mmaccune@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @MarieMacCune.

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

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

In 1968, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opened in Springfield, the city where the sport was first invented.

AROUND THE WORLD

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis on Monday paid tribute to the Egyptian Coptic Christians whom Islamic State militants claimed to have beheaded in Libya.

“Today I read about the execution of these 21, 22 Christian Coptics.

The only thing they said was: ‘Jesus help me.’

They were killed simply for the fact of being Christians,” Francis said.

He made an impromptu addition in Spanish to a prepared speech in Italian for an audience with Reverend John Chalmers, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

“The blood of our Christian brothers is a testimony which cries out to be heard.

It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants.

They are Christians.

Their blood is one and the same,” the pontiff said.

“As we recall these brothers who died only because they confessed Christ, I ask that we encourage each another to go forward with this ecumenism which is giving us strength, the ecumenism of blood.

The martyrs belong to all Christians,” he concluded.

Later Monday, Francis telephoned Coptic Pope Tawadros II to offer his condolences, the Vatican said.

The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics called “to express his heartfelt participation in the sorrow of the Coptic Church for the recent barbarous killing of Christian Coptics at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists,” a statement said.

MCT

Correction In the February 9, 2015 edition of the Daily Collegian, a story titled ‘Students, faculty discuss diversity plan’ incorrectly stated that a group of students attended the event representing the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success. The group of students actually represented the Center for Education Policy and Advocacy, the Graduate Student Senate, Student Bridges, the Black Student Union, and the SGA’s Diversity and Student Engagement Committee

IRANIANS

DailyCollegian.com

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prompted the University’s decision.

Many believe the University’s policy is an overly broad interpretation of the sanctions and are calling for UMass to reverse its decision.

“This is a major problem for UMass Amherst, which risks doing real damage to itself as an institution,” National Iranian American Council President Trita Parsi said in a press release.

“It’s also a problem for the U.S. government, which only undermines American values and influence when it prevents universities from reaching out to young Iranians.”

The University said in a statement Friday that officials recognize that UMass’ policy may create difficulties for Iranian students, which they regard as “unfortunate.”

“Furthermore, the exclusion of a class of students from admission directly conflicts with our institutional values and principles,” the statement continued.

“However, as with any college or university, we have no choice but to institute policies and procedure to ensure that we are in full compliance with all applicable laws.”

Mohsen Jalali, a UMass graduate student studying political science and member of the Iranian Graduate Students Association, said

he believes the University is “framing a discriminatory policy as law compliance.”

“It is very specific in the law that is says that it applies to the field of visas … it is not the job of the University and educational institutions to enforce the law,” he said.

“They are policing people, not complying with any law.”

Jalali said the IGSA is taking steps to pressure UMass to reverse its policy, including publicizing the matter, conducting research and contacting the Iranian American Council, which works with the State Department and other U.S. agencies.

Students have created a Facebook page, titled, “No to the UMass Educational Ban on Iranian Nationals,” which features a statement about the University’s policy and uses the hashtag “WeAreAllUMass.” The page had nearly 2,500 “likes” as of Monday evening.

Furthermore, IGSA members are developing petitions for faculty and students to sign and are in the process of working with the Graduate Student Senate to find out what the administration’s process was for determining the policy.

According to UMass s p o ke s p e r s o n Ed Blaguszewski, the University has been adhering to its interpretation of the sanc-

tions since they were passed in 2012. However, a recent inquiry from a student forced administrators to examine the procedures more closely in terms of who could be admitted into specific programs and whether there would be complications for Iranian students returning to the U.S. if they left the country.

Blaguszewski said UMass officials also consulted outside council during the process.

According to the State Department official, all visa applications are reviewed individually in accordance with the requirements of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act and other relevant laws that establish standards for determining eligibility for visas and admission to the U.S. “U.S. law does not prohibit qualified Iranian nationals coming to the United States for education in science and engineering,” the official said. “Each application is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”

The official said the State Department will reach out to UMass to discuss its decision, and is available to answer any questions from other academic institutions regarding implementation of the relevant laws.

According to Jalali, IGSA

members only found two schools which have written policies similar to UMass’ – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and Virginia Commonwealth University.

RPI’s policy, as written on its website, requests that citizens of fully embargoed and sanctioned countries, including Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, contact its admissions office prior to applying. VCU’s policy on its website states that it will not admit Iranian citizens in the graduate fields of mechanical and nuclear engineering or in programs that have nuclear content.

Blaguszewski wrote in an email Monday that current Iranian students can continue their studies at UMass.

“Moving forward, we will provide current students subject to the U.S. Government restrictions in the affected departments with appropriate advisory support to ensure they are not at risk of violating the sanctions and other applicable regulations including considering support for study in areas not affected by the legislation,” he wrote.

Jalali said he knows of about 20 Iranian students currently enrolled in restricted academic programs at UMass.

“The Iranian community

here feels betrayed,” he said.

“They are talented people that trusted this administration.”

At least one faculty member in the College of Engineering, Assistant Professor Yahya ModarresSadeghi, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Iran, according to his profile on the UMass website.

Jalali said he fears the University’s broad interpretation of the sanctions could expand to include other academic programs or citizens from other countries.

“The only way to reverse this policy is with the support of community,” he said.

“This is not an Iranian matter, this is a community matter.”

“Of all the people to hurt with sanctions, punishing students and undermining educational exchanges is a particularly damaging act,” IACP President Parsi said in the press release. “The people of Iran have positive views of the United States, and higher education is one of the best forums to foster important relationships with young Iranians that can help improve ties and even prevent conflicts.”

Aviva Luttrell can be reached at aluttrel@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @AvivaLuttrell.

Five Ukrainians Storm warnings grip 17 states killed, 25 injured in rail hub fight

By Matt Pearce Los Angeles Times

Violence continues despite cease-fire

By Carol J. Williams Los Angeles Times

Ukraine accused proRussian separatists of launching 112 attacks on government positions during the first day of a ceasefire as both sides cast doubt on their likelihood to comply with the next stage of the peace plan - withdrawing heavy weaponry from the war zone.

Fighting was most intense around the Debaltseve rail junction where the government and separatists have been battling for control for weeks. Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 25 were injured, Col. Andriy Lysenko of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council told reporters in Kiev.

The Ukrainian and Russian presidents agreed at peace talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk last week that all hostilities would cease as of Sunday and the two warring factions would begin pulling back heavy weaponry from the front lines on Tuesday.

“Fulfillment of the first provision of the Minsk agreements is mandatory for the pullout of heavy weapons from the line of contact. One hundred and twelve attacks are not an indicator of a cease-fire,” Lysenko said. “At the moment we are not ready to withdraw heavy weapons.”

Separatist military leader Eduard Basurin also signaled that the Russian proxies would withdraw their artillery only if they see Ukrainian troops complying with the next step of the Minsk agreement.

“We will begin pulling back equipment from the line of contact if we receive a certain signal, which is if the Ukrainians also do the same thing,” Basurin was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The rail hub at

Debaltseve, which the insurgents want to control so they can shuttle supplies and fighters between their strongholds in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, is reportedly surrounded by separatist gunmen.

The encircled government troops, which some reports number as high as 7,000, were offered safe passage out of rebel-held territory in exchange for surrendering their weapons, separatist officials told reporters in Donetsk.

There was no immediate reply by the government, which made clear its intent to hold on to Debaltseve when it deployed thousands of newly recruited troops to the area last month.

Meanwhile in Brussels, the European Union disclosed the names of 19 Russian and separatist leaders and nine organizations that have been added to its sanctions list in punishment for supporting the territorial incursions in Ukraine.

The move brought to 151 the number of people to be denied visas and subjected to having their assets frozen for their roles in the Ukraine violence. Thirtyseven entities - businesses and pro-separatist organizations - are also now on the European blacklist.

The first EU sanctions were imposed after Russia sent paratroopers to Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula a year ago to take control of the militarily strategic territory, a move widely denounced as an illegal change of national boundaries by force.

Russian officials belittled the sanctions as “illegitimate” and “senseless,” and accounts by the official Tass news agency said the global total of Russians targeted by sanctions is 420, including those affected by actions by the EU, the United States, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and Norway.

Not content just to torture New England with blizzard after blizzard, Mother Nature is expected to unleash heavy snow and uncharacteristically bitter cold on the Midwest, the South and the East this week.

The governors of Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency Monday as a winter storm, lumbering their direction, dumped almost a foot of snow on parts of the Midwest and ice and sleet from Tennessee to Georgia.

As of midday Monday, winter storm warnings touching 17 states and affecting millions of residents stretched from Missouri to New Jersey.

Parts of Kentucky were still bracing for more than a foot of snow by the end of Monday, which would give the Bluegrass State a small taste of the weather that has hammered Boston in recent weeks, burying the city beneath several feet of snowy misery. Air traffic into and out of Louisville’s airport was significantly hampered Monday, as it was in Nashville and Memphis.

Worse yet, temperatures in the East will be 20 to 30

MCT

Connor Williams, 11, operates a snowblower for the first time on Monday in Maryland Heights, Mo. degrees lower than average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.

“This will especially be the case after yet another arctic cold front moves through after the winter storm departs the East Coast,” the National Weather Service said in a Monday forecast advisory.

“Numerous record low temperatures are expected!”

In Michigan on Sunday, the dramatic cold already set or tied record lows of minus 21 degrees in Gaylord, minus 23 in Pellston and minus 25 at the Houghton County Airport.

The freeze spread to Pennsylvania on Monday

morning, where a low of minus 32 degrees was reported in Chandlers Valley, and Harrisburg’s much milder zero-degree low tied a 110-year-old record, the weather service reported.

The cold spurred school closures in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

A cold front tagging along with Monday’s Midwestern snow storm also brought an unwelcome display of contrasts across the South.

As the cold swept through Victoria, Texas, on Monday morning, temperatures fell from about 70 degrees to 48 degrees in less than half an hour, or almost a degree a minute.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

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Rubio faces stiff odds reversing Obama’s Cuba policy Fla. senator hopes to mobilize republicans

By Chris Adams McClatchy Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — In December, just hours after the White House abruptly changed course in the nation’s relationship with Cuba, Sen. Marco Rubio laid down his marker.

“I intend to use every tool at our disposal in the majority to unravel as many of these changes as possible,” he said Dec. 17.

It’s now February - and despite congressional hearings and ongoing pressure on the administration, it’s not clear that Rubio and other opponents can undo what the president already did.

Rubio is perhaps the nation’s most prominent lawmaker on the Cuba issue. He’s a CubanAmerican, a member of the Senate’s Republican majority and a potential presidential candidate.

And he represents Florida, Cuba’s closest U.S. neighbor.

But according to Cuba experts, Rubio might have little ability to reverse Obama’s changes. And Rubio might have realized that.

That doesn’t mean Congress – and Rubio – can’t curtail the administration’s long-term plans.

Congress clearly has authority over some aspects of the new Cuba policy, and congressional leaders beyond Rubio are skeptical of the president’s plans.

For his part, Rubio is letting the administration make its case – and also watching as Cuba makes demands that he said could make normalization untenable.

In an interview with McClatchy this week, Rubio said President Barack Obama has “exceeded his authority” with alreadyannounced moves.

“I think many of the changes that he’s made run counter to existing legislation, which I believe makes it illegal,” Rubio said. “We’ve made that case, but obviously this is a case we want to prove. But ultimately it’s going to

wind up in the court system.”

Those changes really are just the first step in the Cuban opening. Up next will be the establishment of an embassy in Havana, as well as the confirmation of an ambassador.

Asked whether there were enough votes in the Senate to deny confirmation to an ambassador, Rubio said, “Well, there are multiple ways to stop an ambassador nomination, and I reserve the right to use all of them. ... I can tell you for certain that no matter who they nominate I will not be supportive of and will do everything I can to try to stop the nomination of an ambassador to an embassy that’s not a real embassy.”

The opening to Cuba is a complicated, multipronged effort.

Already, the Treasury and Commerce departments have relaxed rules on some travel to Cuba, loosened restrictions on financial transactions between the United States and the island nation, and allowed for U.S. exports of certain products.

Rubio said some of those changes - such as increased telecommunications exports to Cuba - are specifically prohibited under current statutes and will not withstand legal challenges.

The White House disagreed.

National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell said that all changes were “looked at closely by administration lawyers and all actions were taken in the context of what could legally be done.”

“There was this level of irrational exuberance from proponents of the new policy, but Congress hadn’t had a say yet,” said Jason I. Poblete, a former Republican congressional staffer and an international regulatory lawyer with Poblete Tamargo LLP who supports the sanctions on Cuba but said he has been critical of both parties and prior administrations for their Cuba policies.

“Now they are having a say.”

But having a say and reversing the policy are two different things - although Rubio will have an out-

MCT

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on May 13, 2014. sized role in the debate.

“People take what he has to say very seriously,” said Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

But the president has substantial executive power on his side.

“He can open an embassy, he can liberalize travel restrictions, he can increase the amount of money that people living in America can send to Cuba,” West said. “There’s very little Sen. Rubio can do about those things.”

Rubio “has the ability to stop the parts of the initiative that require congressional approval, like ending the embargo,” West said. “What he can’t block is opening an embassy.”

Beyond that are the big issues of freeing travel between the two countries and ending the embargo that has cut off Cuba from most trade with the United States.

Legislation already has been introduced in Congress to accomplish both of those goals, though

experts say Rubio and his allies have significant ability to sway the debate.

In an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressed opposition to the president’s plans, and Boehner was skeptical that the most ambitious of them - such as repealing the trade embargo with Cuba - would go anywhere. Asked whether the trade embargo would stay in place, Boehner said, “I would think so.”

Carl Meacham, a former senior Republican aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who’s now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said that while support for the trade embargo is on the decline nationally, Rubio’s position as a voice for the Cuban exile community means its voice will be heard.

A recent national poll by the Pew Research Center found two-thirds of respondents favored ending the

embargo.

But whether the voice of the Cuban-American community will steer enough votes in Congress is unclear. Democrats are generally unified in a pro-change position - with at least one major, influential detractor in Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey - while Republicans are more fractured, Meacham said.

The ultimate level of support that Rubio can expect for his position is hard to pin down, thanks to libertarian-leaning Republicans and those from agriculture states that would benefit from new markets.

“I really think Republicans are split on this issue,” Meacham said. “And those Republicans who support the president’s decision on this should not be ignored.”

Of all the potential changes to the relationship with Cuba, Meacham said Obama is able to change onethird of them on his own. The other two-thirds fall under the jurisdiction of Congress.

Egypt strikes Islamic State in Libya Grand jury indicts Attack in reponse to beheading video

By Laura King Los Angeles Times CAIRO — Egypt bombarded Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday and urged coalition allies to do the same, hours after a gruesome video released online by the militant group purported to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians on a Mediterranean beach.

Training camps and weapons caches were among the targets, and all the aircraft returned safely to base, state television reported.

President Abdel Fattah Sisi, the former military chief, had declared earlier that Egypt had the “right to respond” to the murder of its citizens.

Egypt swiftly called on the U.S.-led coalition confronting the Sunni Muslim militant group in Syria and Iraq to expand military actions to target its Libyan branch as well. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry urged strikes against “the terrorist Daesh organization,” referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.

The killings of the 21 Coptic Christians sent a wave of revulsion across Egypt, despite the Copts’ often disenfranchised status in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. Official statements cast the executions as an attack on all Egyptians, which would be dealt with as such. As a gesture of solidarity, Sisi visited a Coptic cathedral to offer condolences.

“Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that will protect them all and a sword that amputates terrorism and extremism,” the Egyptian

President Abdel Fattah Sisi, the former military chief, had declared earlier that Egypt had the “right to respond” to the murder of its citizens. military command said in a statement, describing the airstrikes as “retribution.”

Muslim clerics also were quick to condemn the killings, with Egypt’s Al Azhar, the seat of Sunni learning, describing the executions as “barbaric.”

Later, a senior Libyan air force officer told Egyptian television that the Egyptian strikes killed 40 to 50 militants, but the number could not be independently verified.

The executions, condemned by the Obama administration, appeared to signal a determination on the part of the Islamic State to expand its footprint beyond Iraq and Syria, the two countries where it has made its greatest military gains. Libya, which has collapsed into warring factions presided over by rival militias, offers fertile territory for the Sunni Muslim militant group, with enormous oil wealth at stake.

In the grim video, shot on a wintry beach, the prisoners were seen being marched into place by a line of blackclad, knife-wielding captors.

At first, they kneel, the lips of some of the doomed men moving in apparent prayer.

Then they were forced to lie face-down in the sand, and the executioners reached down and begin sawing away at their necks.

A narration of sorts was delivered by a man wearing camouflage and a lightbrown mask, who is seen taking part in the killings – reminiscent of a figure known in the West as “Jihadi

John,” who has carried out similar executions in Syria after delivering declarations in British-accented English.

In the latest video, the apparent ringleader, speaking colloquial and nearly unaccented English, intones: “This filthy blood is just some of what awaits you.”

And in an explicit bid to stress the growing reach of the group and its proximity to European shores, the mass execution is described as taking place on Libya’s Mediterranean coast –“south of Rome.”

Unlike some previous Islamic State videos that have cut away before the victims’ heads are sawed off, this one presented the beheadings in graphic, jagged jump-cuts, culminating with the severed heads being placed on the backs of the corpses.

Despite growing dangers over the last year as Libya has fallen into deepening chaos, impoverished Egyptian laborers have continued to flock to the neighboring, energy-rich state, where wages are far higher than at home. Many are Christians, and when the two groups of Copts were seized, statements from their Islamist captures made it clear they were targeted primarily for their religion.

Although the Sisi government had made overtures to the Coptic Christian community, thought to make up between 10 percent and 15 percent of Egypt’s population of about 90 million, many Copts consider themselves a downtrodden minor-

ity. They face discrimination in jobs and housing, and were singled out for retribution when Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was toppled in a popularly supported coup in 2013.

On Friday, relatives of the kidnapped men, mostly from poor areas in southern Egypt, had staged rallies and prayers in an attempt to galvanize a stronger response from the Egyptian government. Officials assured them that all possible steps were being taken to save their loved ones.

On Sunday, Sisi convened an emergency meeting of top security officials and Egypt’s government declared seven days of official mourning.

The Egyptian Christians had been seized in the central Libyan city of Sirte, where fierce fighting had broken out. Libya has been riven for months by armed militias, but with the relatively recent addition of a deadly and dreaded element: fighters declaring their loyalty to the fanatics of the Islamic State, who have gloried in barbaric and welldocumented acts in the wide bands of territory they control in Syria and Libya.

Most recently, those have included the death of a young American woman from Arizona, Kayla Mueller, who had been held hostage by the group. Prior to that, the group caused worldwide revulsion when it burned a captured Jordanian pilot to death in a cage. Victims in recent months have also included a string of Americans and Britons, including journalists and aid workers who were beheaded, and more recently two Japanese nationals beheaded a week apart.

the alleged UNC shooting suspect

By Anne Blythe The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A Durham County grand jury handed up indictments Monday, charging Craig Stephen Hicks with three counts of murder and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling in the fatal shooting last week that left two families and two university communities struggling for answers.

The charges come six days after fatal shootings in the Finley Forest condominium complex.

Hicks, 46, turned himself in to two deputies outside the Chatham County sheriff’s office after the violence that police contend is rooted in a long-running parking dispute.

Deah Shaddy Barakat, a 23-year-old University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, dental student, was found dead at the threshold of the condominium front door with blood around his head, according to search warrant documents released last week.

Barakat’s 21-year-old wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, a recent North Carolina State University graduate, and her sister, Razan Mohammad AbuSalha, a 19-year-old NCSU design student, were found inside the condo with fatal gunshot wounds to the

head, according to warrants and family members.

One sister was in the kitchen doorway. The other was in the kitchen.

Within hours of the shooting, police had Hicks under arrest and conducted a search of his home that turned up at least a dozen shotguns, handguns and rifles.

A search of his vehicle outisde the Chatham County sheriff ’s office turned up the weapon that police say was used in the killings.

Neighbors, a tow truck driver and others have said Hicks often complained about residents and visitors at Finley Forest parking in his reserved space.

He called one tow truck company so often they stopped responding to his calls.

Though many have questioned whether the victims were targeted because they were Muslim, no hate-crime charges have been brought against the man accused.

Federal investigators opened an inquiry last week to determine, in part, whether religious bias was a motive. For a federal hate-crime charge to be brought and successfully prosecuted, legal analysts say, religious bias must be the predominant motivating factor, not one of many.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

“Love and hate are beasts and the one that grows is the one you feed” - Shane Koyczan

Editorial@DailyCollegiancom

No law is forcing UMass to ban Iranians In a repudiation of stated policy ensuring equal opportunity and nondiscrimination, the University of Massachusetts began refusing admis-

Zac Bears sion of Iranian nationals to energyrelated programs in the College of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences on Feb. 1.

A University press release stated that a 2012 law refuses Iranian citizens visas if they intend to study in nuclear or energy-related fields, and that administrators “recognize” the “difficulties” the policy creates for students from Iran as “unfortunate” and in “conflict with institutional values and principles.”

But several reports suggest that federal law did not force administrators to institute the new admissions policy, and that the reasoning behind the decision was not solely based on ensuring legal compliance.

Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), told MassLive.com the Department of Homeland Security was enforcing the policy and that

choose to leave enforcement to DHS and State.

Brooklyn College Professor Corey Robin reviewed the specifics behind the 2012 Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act, and spoke to Tyler Cullis, a legal fellow at the NIAC, and Sam Cutler, policy advisor at a law firm whose focus is U.S. sanctions policy. Cullis said that the Sec. 501 clearly does not obligate universities to enact admissions bans. Vacillating due to uncertainties presented by the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks, Cutler said it’s possible that the Treasury Department could view such admissions as a violation of the law, but couldn’t provide a number or name of universities with a similar policy.

Cullis also provided a “proper reading” of the 2012 law by the University of Pennsylvania. It’s just a webpage with a statement that Iranian nationals are ineligible for visas to study in petroleum or nuclear energy-related fields. Penn isn’t refusing admission; it’s stating that the federal government won’t issue a visa to enter the country.

Robin reacted to updates Saturday by comparing his discussion with “sanctions experts” to fear of anti-

“The University of Massachusetts should oppose any law that discriminates, and unless legally forced to do so, it should not enact a policy that would enforce such a law.” only one other American university has a similar policy interpretation to UMass. Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Michael Malone said Homeland Security and the State Department denied issuing a visa to a UMass student after a visit to Iran due to a research topic. Delays like that impact faculty scheduling and reduce funding, Malone said, and administrators “don’t want (students) to come here and be disappointed.”

The Boston Globe reported the State Department “will contact UMass to discuss the decision and will answer any questions from other academic institutions about the law.”

An unnamed department official referred to individual review of visa compliance with U.S. sanctions on the education of Iranian nationals, and said that the law doesn’t prevent prospective students from attending school for science and engineering. The federal government opts for review on “a case-by-case basis,” not a broader admissions policy like the University’s.

This admissions ban directly contradicts the prohibition of discrimination based on “national origin.” It also subverts the University system’s guarantee of “accessible education” that advances knowledge and “improves the lives of the people of… the world.”

If University administrators truly value these principles, they must oppose the law that refuses visas to students solely based on nationality. They certainly should not institute a policy to enforce that law while all other U.S. colleges and universities save one

communism at academic and cultural institutions in the 1950s. While he warns he may be “over-read(ing)” the story, Robin’s encounter with a modern “advice industry” representative, Cutler, makes him concerned that outside groups may be provoking “nervous administrators” to make decisions based on fear. For him, the surprised reaction of the State Department official compounds those concerns.

While the UMass news release asserts displeasure at the conflict between the admissions ban and “institutional values,” the University’s action doesn’t. A law that refuses visas for higher education based on national origin undermines University and national values.

It reinforces mistrust of the U.S. in the Middle East, and inconveniences students whom believe in America’s promise of opportunity and advancement.

By restricting the choice of a specific group based on national origin, the law rejects equality and reminds me of the not-too-distant past (and present) when policy and government actions systematically degraded the political, social and economic rights of certain groups of people. Policies like this prop up stereotypes that encourage racial violence.

The University of Massachusetts should oppose any law that discriminates, and unless legally forced to do so, it should not enact a policy that would enforce such a law.

Zac Bears is the Opinion & Editorial Editor and can be reached at ibears@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @zac_bears.

Remembering David Carr and Bob Simon A lot of attention has been devoted to Brian Williams and the downside of celebrity journalists embellishing their own

Issac Simon reporting. But as time passes, there is less and less to say about a man who rightfully deserves the six month suspension he was given.

More important, though, is the passing of Bob Simon and David Carr, two respected journalists we lost this past week.

Simon is perhaps the product of a bygone era, one where the journalist carried little self-satisfaction when it came to the way the story was covered. However, the stories he did cover were wide-ranging, from foreign leaders and dignitaries, to superstar athletes and Middle Eastern terrorists.

Equally as impressive though, was his relentless effort to stop at nothing but the truth. When covering the early phases of the Gulf War in 1991, Simon, along with the rest of the CBS news crew, was captured when crossing the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. They were held captive for 40 days, most of it in solitary confinement. At the time, Simon was not optimistic about his fate and thought he would be the first to die given his Jewish faith.

Simon’s natural curiosity for the truth began in 1967 when he began working for CBS news.

He quickly became a foreign correspondent based in Israel in 1973. He would go on to cover the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for 40 years. He was a personal friend of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and had a quick wit and a real knack for story-telling.

Simon became a correspondent for 60 Minutes in 1996 and a full-time correspondent in 2005, where he traveled from the Arctic to Antarctic and every-

where in between.

“He had a sharp intolerance for injustice” said, Scott Pelley, managing editor and anchor of the CBS evening news and longtime colleague of Simon. In an online CBS broadcast memorializing Simon, Pelley talked about the design of his office, which was plastered with photos of his three-year-old grandson. This is not to say that Simon hadn’t earned a wide variety of awards deserving to be displayed. In a 40-plus year career, Simon received 27 Emmy awards and four Peabody’s.

Journalists and New York Times lovers everywhere are also saddened by the death of David Carr this week, who collapsed on the job at the age of 58.

Carr’s story is in many ways remarkable. He was born in Hopkins, Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota before he went on to

scandal and going out of business.

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of the New York Times had not only respect but admiration for the 58-year-old reporter.

“David Carr was one of the most gifted journalists who has ever worked at The New York Times,” he said. Indeed, Carr was a man who understood the power and importance of media and how it should be at the forefront of American journalism. But also, Carr represents the journalist who was able to make the 180-degree turn, from deprived drug addict struggling to take care of his children, to a heavy hitting, well-informed reporter.

Bob Simon and David Carr didn’t talk or write about themselves. They didn’t tout their accomplishments or embellish their reporting. Both of them approached their work with humility while never feeling the need to aggrandize a story.

They didn’t need to become the story in order to cover the story. Because of this, the stories they shed light on are a testament to their legacy.

Simon was a powerful writer whose segments spoke volumes to the people who tuned in.

Carr’s soft-spoken yet shrewd style of writing earned him the respect of an entire newspaper and revolutionized the way media was covered. Unlike these two men who left an indelible mark on the history of reporting, Brian Williams falls into the category of replaceable.

Although NBC’s suspension of Williams provides the public with the possibility of his return, no one is expecting a promising rebound. Williams could learn a thing or two from these journalists – ones who cared more about the public discourse and less about their private image.

“Both of them approached their work with humility while never feeling the need to heroicize a story.”

work for the Twin Cities Reader and the Washington City Paper.

He battled terrible drug addictions in the late 1980s.

Eventually, Carr moved to New York City where he covered media for inside.com.

Shortly thereafter he became a contributing writer for the Atlantic Monthly and New York Magazine. Carr joined the New York Times in 2002 and made a name for himself as the writer of the Monday “Media Equation” for the business section of the paper.

Carr also started the Carpet Bagger, a New York Times blog devoted to discussing Oscar nominated films. Carr was also at the center of the 2011 film, “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” a documentary about the newspaper and its struggle to stay above water amidst a dwindling newspaper environ- Isaac Simon is a Collegian columnist and ment that was both engulfed in can be reached at isimon@umass.edu.

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The Massachusetts Daily Collegian is published Monday through Thursday during the University of Massachusetts calendar semester. The Collegian is independently funded, operating on advertising revenue. Founded in 1890, the paper began as Aggie Life, became the College Signal in 1901, the Weekly Collegian in 1914 and the Tri–Weekly Collegian in 1956. Published daily from 1967 to 2014, The Collegian has been broadsheet since January 1994. For advertising rates and information, call 413-545-3500.

PRODUCTION CREW on staff for this issue NIGHT EDITOR - Aviva Luttrell COPY EDITOR - Jaclyn Bryson WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER - Robert Rigo NEWS DESK EDITOR - Marie MacCune O p /E d DESK EDITOR - Kate Leddy ARTS DESK EDITOR - Jackson Maxwell SPORTS DESK EDITOR - Mark Chiarelli COMICS DESK EDITOR - Tracy Krug GRAPHICS DESK EDITOR - James Desjardin

Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

“Are the cones a metaphor? Well, yes and no.”- Ben Wyatt

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

Foreigner, exuberant as ever, rocks the Calvin Theatre

PHOTOS BY CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

Foreigner performs to a packed Calvin Theatre on Feb. 10.

By Andy Castillo Collegian Correspondent The 1980’s came to town with long hair, open-collared shirts and driving beats so epic that one excited person from the audience threw her socks onto the stage.

Lisa Raymond, a Vermont resident, made the trek through the postsnowstorm apocalypse to see Foreigner perform to a packed Calvin Theater crowd Tuesday night.

Referring to “Jukebox

Hero,” one of the band’s bigger hits and a crowd favorite, she said, “I grew up listening to that song.”

With silky-smooth vocals warm enough to melt the snow outside, Foreigner’s legendary front man Kelly Hansen led the jubilant crowd into a frenzy late which lasted late into the night. The intimate and elegant interior of the Calvin Theater allowed for a more personable concert experience. At one point, Hansen even climbed over the seats

Guitarist Bruce Watson and vocalist Kelly Hansen.

The audience, spanning multiple generations, was treated to a show for the ages.

and stood in the middle of the crowd, and used audience members’ cellphones to take selfies.

The band performed famous and memorable power-ballads such as “Double Vision,” “Cold as Ice,” “Urgent” in addition to “Jukebox Hero.”

“As long as you’re having fun, that’s what’s important,” Hansen said to the crowd. “I want you to let go.

I want you to release. I want you to rock and roll.” “(He’s) the real deal,”

“Proceeds from the concert are going toward highschool choral groups,” said Alexis Farrington, a student at Northampton High School.

She and fellow students were selling CDs and auctioning off a guitar signed by the members of Foreigner at the front entrance. The band, in collaboration with the Grammy Foundation, has donated thousands of dollars to help keep music programs alive in schools across the country.

CONCERT REVIEW

said Ben Parsons, a fan of Foreigner and also a bass player in his own rock band, the Arc City Angels. “You just can’t replace these guys, modern music isn’t the same.”

Michael Gruszka, a Wilbraham resident, agreed.

“We’ve been listening to them for generations,” he said.

But it was not all fun and games on Tuesday night.

The band had a purpose for playing.

So far, they have raised over $500,000 in support of music education. The Northamptones, a music group from Northampton High School, are the benefactors of the grant. The students performed onstage during the last song of the Foreigners show and walked off to a standing ovation.

Andy Castillo can be reached at acastillo@umass.edu.

ALBUM REVIEW

The New Pornographers Father John Misty strikes gold singer’s new perform lethargic concert Folk album is a classic

Acclaimed band fails to excite Calvin

By Sarah Robertson Collegian Staff

On Wednesday night, Allan Carl Newman asked the Calvin Theatre to guess one of his favorite authors.

“One of my favorite writers lives here, right down the street,” the lead singer of the New Pornographers said between songs. “Can anyone guess who it is? It rhymes with think.”

A few wrong answers fired from the crowd. One man shouted “J.K. Rowling!” four or five times. Newman told everyone to check Wikipedia then counted the band in for a lethargic rendition of “Backstairs” off the New Pornographers’ newest album, “Brill Bruisers.”

“Her name is Kelly Link.

She has a new book coming out,” Newman said, seeming defeated.

The New Pornographers seemed to lose something between the studio and the stage, and it’s not just because half of the band’s members were not present for the performance.

Just seven members of the

11-musician collective played at the theatre Wednesday, taking away from the depth heard on “Brill Bruisers.” Among the missing members were Neko Case, a vocalist and founding member, and Kurt Dahle, the band’s drummer of 15 years.

Perhaps it was their absence that accounted for the band’s mostly lackluster performance. Many members seemed bored and uninspired as they played, sometimes even leaving the stage for entire songs if they were not needed. Blaine Thurier, the band’s keyboard player, even spent a few songs tapping on an iPad attached to a speaker.

Or perhaps they are just getting old. Founded in 1996, the New Pornographers have been making music for nearly two decades, and every member has many of their own side projects to attend to. During the performance, many of the collective’s members seemed tired and distracted, and understandably so. Their live performance had no hope of matching the intricate, careful production heard on “Brill Bruisers.”

Female vocalist Kathryn Calder stood in for Case, filling her shoes nicely with

deep delicate vocals on songs like “Challengers” and “The Laws Have Changed.” Dan Bejar, another one of the group’s vocalists, also rose to the challenge and offered the audiences just a piece of the energy that was missing from the whole show. Newer tracks like “War on the East Coast” and “Dancehall Domine” successfully engaged listeners, if only because of their catchy, saturated sound and Bejar’s vocals.

Despite the show’s shortfalls, it was clear that the devout fans were determined to have a good time, even if they were not always appreciated. While taking suggestions, Newman called out one person for suggesting the song “Graceland.”

“You’re just requesting that to prove you know all of our songs,” he said. The group never played “Graceland.”

Still, the band found time for a three-song encore, ending on a serene note with one of their most time-tested songs – “Bleeding Heart Show” off the 2005 album, “Twin Cinema.”

And you can bet that we knew every word.

Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@umass.edu.

By Jackson Maxwell Collegian Staff

Behind the guise of Joshua Tillman’s Father John Misty persona lays not the typical folksinger stereotype, but an anti-stereotype.

Tillman, the former drummer of Fleet Foxes, invented the Father John Misty name and persona while high on psychedelic mushrooms, sitting naked in a tree in Big Sur, California. It seems like the ultimate sort of folk singertype story, but it provoked a complete reinvention on Tillman’s part. He went from the morose, defeatist and spare folk of his early solo work as Tillman, to a confident, sarcastic and unapologetic entertainer.

“I Love You, Honeybear,” released Feb. 10, is folk in the classic sense – taking American musical tradition and spreading it over character-study lyrics that always have a way of finding the bigger picture. But Tillman’s second album as Father John Misty is not an album focused on genre, or adhering to the established principles of anyone but Tillman himself.

Tillman will poke fun at romantics, and then, seemingly with a wave of his hand, write a love song as devastatingly witty and heartfelt as any in recent memory. He hates drama, and yet he will create it when it does not exist, with the album’s rich strings or horns.

“I Love You, Honeybear” is remarkable in that it is completely at peace with itself. Tillman seemingly indulges in every lyrical or musical impulse that comes to his brilliant mind with an indifferent shrug. It is a rare instance of an artist who is not only at his creative peak, but knows exactly what he wants, and how he wants to achieve it.

“I Love You, Honeybear” is an album of incredibly vivid, unpredictable characters. The woman who serves

as Tillman’s partner in a one-night stand in the brilliantly sardonic “The night Josh Tillman came to our apartment” is someone that can immediately be pictured. After Tillman voices his desire for “the kind of woman who can walk over a man/I mean like a goddamn marching band,” he begins to paint a weary picture of his subject.

“She says like, literally, music is the air she breathes,” Tillman says. As he stumbles through their whirlwind encounter, they sing “Silent Night” together before the nameless woman claims she sounds like Sarah Vaughn. This is enough to provoke Tillman to tell the listener that he “hates that soulful affectation that white girls put on,” before he finally, hilariously asks his partner, “Why don’t you move to the Delta?”

Tillman’s examinations of love in the modern age constantly seem to break the fourth wall. His narration is brilliant enough as it is, but his little anecdotes, his snarky side-comments to the audience, are what make this album so lyrically extraordinary.

On the horn-infused highlight “Chateau lobby #4 (in C for two virgins),” Tillman sums up his partner with the line, “People are boring, but you’re something else completely.” However, he immediately follows that up with, “Damn, let’s take our chances.”

The character that haunts the brilliant “Nothing good ever happens at the goddamn Thirsty Crow,” “blackens pages like a Russian romantic” and “gets down more often than a blowup doll.” To all this, Tillman simply asks, “Why the long face? Blondie, I’m already taken,” before simply adding, “ … Sorry.”

Tillman’s sleazy, debonairtype act here is obviously all sarcasm, but he sells the cliché so well that by the end, he inevitably wins you over.

After the snark of “Bored in the USA,” one might be starting to grow tired of Tillman’s persona. But, for

the album’s staggering closer, “I went to the store one day,” Tillman drops the act, if only just for four minutes.

Over mostly just his acoustic strumming, Tillman describes meeting the love of his life in the parking lot of a local country store – which is how he actually met his wife. After describing all the ins and outs of one-night stands and romantic flings, Tillman concedes that he “never thought it would be so simple.”

Tillman’s visions for his and his wife’s future are beautifully, almost painfully, sweet.

“I need someone I can trust,” Tillman sings, before adding that he would much rather die of a heart attack while making love to her than in a hospital bed. But even after this confessional outpouring, there is room for one final joke.

Tillman concludes that all of this came “because I went to the store one day.”

After such an emotional build, it’s a reminder that Tillman will never commit 100 percent to the ultra serious singer/songwriter persona he spends so much time mocking.

“I Love You, Honeybear” does its absolute best to never sound completely genuine. But, without the concerns of accountability, Tillman feels free to completely speak his mind.

Tillman’s ideas flow brilliantly and fluidly around this record. It is a love story, a character study and a social commentary.

But more importantly, it is a complete image of a remarkable songwriter. In his sarcasm and deflection, Tillman lets the listener hear sides of his true self that most songwriters would never reveal. Through the guise of Father John Misty, Tillman has stumbled upon some remarkable truths.

Jackson Maxwell can be reached at jlmaxwell@umass.edu.

6

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Comics

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YOU! YES, YOU RIGHT THERE! Put your editing in front of thousands of readers.

COME AND BE THE COMICS EDITOR BECAUSE IT’S THE BEST JOB EVER! E–mail Tracy at comics@dailycollegian.com for the job offer of a lifetime.

Is melted ice cream really still intrinsically ice cream?

D inosaur C omics

B y R yan N orth

P oorly D rawn L ines

aquarius

HOROSCOPES Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

If you’re not inexplicably belting ”This is the Age of Aquarius” everyday, who do you think you are?

pisces

“Lukewarm Cream”

B y R eza F arazmand

Feb. 19 - Mar. 20

leo

Jul. 23 - Aug. 22

Life as a chocolatier sounds like the kind of utopian dream few will ever live.

virgo

Aug. 23 - Sept. 22

Ah, yes, it’s so nice to have had a much needed three day weekend. It’s really been too long.

Male sure to wear a suit and tie when you go to the gym at 4PM so rookie gym–goers know you really mean business.

aries

Mar. 21 - Apr. 19

libra

Sept. 23 - Oct. 22

taurus

Apr. 20 - May. 20

scorpio

Oct. 23 - Nov. 21

gemini

May. 21 - Jun. 21

Sometimes you need to have a mint to get Right now you’re probably feeling a tickle rid of the after taste of the first mint you had. on your wrist, it might be a hair. Take a look The circle of life at work. dow...WAUGH GUH SPIDERS EVERYWHERE!

Breaking someone out of their shell is like destroying a snail’s home. Don’t take our homes!

After a run in with some apple rings today in the car, make this your life’s motto: “Always keep floss in your middle console.”

sagittarius

Nov. 22 - Dec. 21

Though you might have eaten that cheddar laying down in your room, referring to it as “bed cheese” is much worse than intended.

I believe “triple berry” pies and muffins would taste a lot better if each berry was a mutation that contained three berries per stem.

cancer

capricorn

Jun. 22 - Jul. 22

It’s amazing how buying your first power suit feels a lot like throwing your hopes and dreams away.

Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

Hershey bars lose their decadence when you can drive to the store and buy them with money.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

URI/VCU

MACLEAN

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

Cady Lalanne (with ball) attempts a layup against La Salle on Feb. 8.

“Everybody came together and said ‘Why not us? We put just as much work into it as any other team in this conference and any other team in this country.’”

Cady Lalanne helps make you a stronger, better team down the line.”

“The coaches have been telling me since summer time that this team was going to start getting better around this time of the year in conference play,” Lalanne said. “Those ups and downs were a little frustrating, but it reminded me to stay with it and the team started pulling through.”

UMass even used it as a rallying point.

“Everybody came together and said ‘Why not us?’” Lalanne said. “We put just as much work into it as any other team in this conference and any other team in this country, so why can’t we give ourselves a chance to win this conference, come out on top, have a good season and build off last year?”

There’s no masking the importance of both the URI and VCU games. Kellogg believes “everybody”

continued from page 8

hoping for her to run a 2:05,” LaFreniere added.

LaFreniere said the time MacLean posted at the Tyson Invitational isn’t what she needed for nationals, and the Terrier Invitational time of 2:07.36 she posted at Boston University in January still stands as her best time.

MacLean is ranked No. 40 in the country, but is just over a second away from cracking the top 16.

She will most likely not compete at the New England Championships, but instead run at a lastchance qualifier’s meet at BU. “That meet will attract the best runners from all over New England, and she needs to go up against the best talent in order for her to produce her best possi-

DEFENSE

KLEE

continued from page 8

when there were periods of doubt, put the upcoming week into perspective.

“I think there’s pressure for every game from here on out,” Kellogg said. “If we play well, we’ve got a chance to put ourselves in position for a good seed in the (Atlantic 10) tournament in Brooklyn.”

About a month ago, it’d be difficult to imagine a UMass team jockeying for the alpha position within the Atlantic 10 and even flirting with the NCAA tournament discussion.

On Jan. 3, UMass lost to St. Bonaventure at home to open its conference schedule. It was their third loss in four games, dropping the Minutemen to 7-7 and painting the picture of a team in desperate need of tightening loose screws.

It was a far cry from the team that many fans – and even some players – believed would follow up last year’s NCAA tournament appearance with another bid.

But Kellogg cautioned from the beginning that this team would be different. It needed time to gel, season and even needed certain players to buy into their roles. He noted in October that unlike last year, this year’s team would need to piece things together as it went along.

Only now is it coming all together. As Kellogg said, the team stayed the course.

“They’ve bought in,” he said. “We’ve had some ups and downs and I think we’ve persevered. That

“She needs to go up against the best talent in order for her to produce her best possible time.”

Julie LaFreniere, UMass coach ble time,” LaFreniere said.

Representing UMass MacLean appeared at the Tyson Invitational on the same track as schools from the Southeastern Conference, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference, which meant a lot for the program.

“It has a very David vs.

Goliath feeling,” LaFreniere said.

The majority of schools represented at the meet come from the southern states – therefore they can train outdoors year round

and don’t have to contend with the brutal winters that teams like UMass face every year, making training without an indoor facility (which the Minutewomen have to do regularly) incredibly difficult.

UMass doesn’t carry the same pedigree as some of the schools in attendance either, but MacLean’s involvement on the national stage is a major boost for the program.

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

continued from page 8

ating opportunities in the offensive end, which will take the pressure off the defense. But planning for change in the future and effectively executing the game plan against quality teams is an altogether different challenge.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that UNC and Army were

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

both ranked teams with potent attacking players, the likes of which the Minutemen defense won’t have to contend with every week.

The bright sides of things, however, suggest that these problems can be overcome in time, as it is only the third week of the season and the young

players on the team have enough talent to turn the tide.

UMass will return to action this Saturday at 3 p.m. when it takes on Harvard University in Cambridge.

Nicholas Casale can be reached at ncasale@umass.edu and followed on twitter @NicholasLCasale.

understands Wednesday’s game with Rhode Island is important and Lalanne said UMass hasn’t been in a position to win the regular season title since 2007.

Furthermore, another win over URI (UMass beat the Rams at home last month) and a win over No. 25 VCU firmly plants the Minutemen in the national conversation as a team on the rise, which is perfect timing as March rolls around. Talk about a change from where UMass was in January.

Now, the Minutemen have the opportunity to complete the turnaround.

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

B7

continued from page 8

she said. “She just threw live to our batters before we left for our trip. She’s still working out some mechanical things, but I would probably say she will return to the mound within another two tournaments or so.”

Even with the inevitability of a comeback to pitching occurring, it will most likely be a difficult decision for Stefanoni to pull Klee out of the batting order. After all, the power numbers weren’t the only impressive statistical outburst, as Klee managed to bat 6-for-14 (.357 batting average) overall and posted a .642 on-base percentage (OBP).

The ability to get on base is extremely valuable, which Klee proved to have in the second game of the trip against McNeese State.

She didn’t get a hit in the contest, but worked deep at-bats to get two walks, which eventually led to two runs. These are the kind of characteristics that draw

up great players, leaving Stefanoni to say that Klee is “absolutely” evolving into a key difference maker.

“She started out the first game at the bottom of the lineup,” said Stefanoni.

“After that she moved into the bulk of the lineup, so for her to drive in runs and have really good, deep atbats for this team is going to make a very big impact.

It will allow other people to take some pressure off themselves, and make it easier on the group.”

“When I recruited Tara, I recruited her as a full package – a pitcher, an outfielder, and hitter,” she continued. “It was known very early to her that she was going to hit here, and she was going to hit in the bulk of the lineup. She’s going to play a key role, I think, in the development of our offense this year.”

Tom Mulherin can be reached at tmulheri@umass.edu.

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

Once a pitcher, Tara Klee excelled in the outfield last weekend for UMass.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

SOFTBALL

Klee thrives in new role at the plate

MEN’S BASKETBALL

M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

Gut-check time

UM aims to solidify its defense

The sophomore hit three home runs in Houston

Army, UNC stronger on the ball, in possession

By Tom Mulherin

By Nicholas Casale

After serving as a pitcher all of last year, sophomore Tara Klee made a surprising start in left field for the Massachusetts softball team in Friday’s season opener at the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational.

Normally, the assumption is that most pitchers can’t hit very well, leaving one apprehensive about seeing a pitcher move into the batting order.

It’s a good thing Klee doesn’t fit into that generalization.

She crushed a two-run homerun over left field in her first at-bat, and finished the game hitting 3-for-3 with two RBIs and scored two runs. Instead of backing down from the new challenge, she emerged as the Minutewomen’s (2-3) powerhouse hitter by the end of the weekend, leaving the invitational with a team-high three homeruns and seven RBIs in five games.

Yes, in just five games, Klee impressed Coach Kristi Stefanoni enough to earn a promotion from being last in the lineup to batting cleanup during next week’s road series. It seems Stefanoni saw something that others couldn’t, and gave the young talent an opportunity to play despite going through struggles on the mound.

“Tara is still working out some issues with pitching,” Stefanoni said.

“We’ve got a lot of (pitchers), and Tara is also a hitter and fielder, so she brings a lot more to the table for our offense. The best way to use her at the moment is to put her in the outfield and hit.”

Despite the success that Klee is having at the plate, and the struggles she is having on the mound, Stefanoni said that the position change won’t be permanent and Klee will have pitching opportunities later on in the season.

“She’s still working on pitching,”

If the saying, “The best offense is a good defense,” has any truth to it, then it can be applied to the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team.

Unfortunately for the Minutemen, the offense (and all things good that come from attacking players) has yet to find its form, which means the defense has been put under intense pressure and has suffered because of it.

Before UMass kicked off the season, one of the main goals set forth by players and coaches was to not allow more than seven goals per game. Notwithstanding, the Minutemen have given up a total of 32 goals (12 against Army, 20 against the University of North Carolina) in just two games – but the blame can’t entirely be put on the defense.

Greg Cannella, the Minutemen head coach, spoke to the Collegian after a loss to Army, identifying what he saw as the problem.

“In our sport, you’re not going to win many games if you don’t win face-offs, or take care of the ball in possession,” he said.

The lack of possession, offensive production and poor success ratio on face-offs was a similar theme in the game against UNC on Saturday, to which Cannella responded, “We didn’t win face-offs early in the game again, similar to last week.

We hung in there and our guys fought hard and hustled, but our execution needs to be a little bit better on the offensive end and like I mentioned, they’re stringing goals together and we’re not getting the ball back.”

If the Minutemen are to turn their recent misfortunes around, then the team must do a better job possessing the ball and cre-

Collegian Staff

see

KLEE on page 7

Collegian Staff

CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

A crowd of players gather around Massachusetts men’s basketball coach Derek Kellogg Saturday in a game against Duquesne at the Mullins Center.

Crucial week of games await Minutemen

By Mark Chiarelli Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts men’s basketball team enters the most important week of its season, as both the hierarchy of the Atlantic 10 Conference and postseason aspirations are directly at stake.

But on Monday, it was business as usual inside the Mullins Center.

“I’m happy we’re in this position,” said UMass coach Derek Kellogg, who noted that despite the heightened circumstances, he didn’t anticipate much chance of a change in

attitude or effort.

“Honestly, to go against two of the top teams in the league with a chance to have it mean something, it’ll be interesting to see how our team responds,” Kellogg said.

The Minutemen (169, 9-3 Atlantic 10) sit atop the conference, tied with Dayton, Rhode Island and Virginia Commonwealth for first place. The logjam figures to work itself out after this week, as UMass faces URI Wednesday and VCU Saturday.

Both games are road dates for a Minutemen

“I don’t think it’s pressure. We’re trying to win those games. So it’s like a sense of urgency for us to win the games. ” Cady Lalanne, UMass center team riding a six-game winning streak. But according to members of the Minutemen, there’s no added pressure as the week unfolds.

“I don’t think it’s pressure,” Lalanne said. “We’re trying to win those games.

So it’s like a sense of urgency for us to win the games.”

“No, we’ve just got to go out there and play hard,” UMass guard Jabarie Hinds said. “I don’t feel any pressure. It’s another day to play basketball, just a bigger game.”

Kellogg, who has long acted as the voice of reason this season both when UMass has played well and see

TENNIS

URI/VCU on page 7

see

DEFENSE on page 7

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

Bitter cold can’t cool down UMass MacLean places Army, Marist offer minimal resistance

By Arthur Hayden Collegian Staff

The last time that the Massachusetts tennis team lost a match in Amherst to a team not named Boston College was in April 2010, falling to Boston University.

On yet another weekend in the tundra of Western Massachusetts, that run was not about to end.

The Minutewomen dominated back-to-back matches against Army and Marist over the weekend, winning every singles and doubles match-up throughout en route to a pair of 7-0 victories. The wins marked the second and third straight shutout wins for UMass, which, despite the weather, finds itself on an early hot streak.

“We’ve been working hard on specific things,” Minutewomen coach Judy Dixon said. “We’ve been working hard on serving, returning serves better and we’ve been trying to keep our energy level and our focus sustained throughout two sets – not to have ups and downs. I think we were able to do that in both matches this weekend.”

Aarzoo Malik, despite suffering from a flu virus, won both of her matches at the No. 1 singles spot, (6-4, 6-2, 7-5, 6-3), as she continues to show her confidence at the top of the lineup in just her sophomore campaign.

The Minutewomen dictated play from top to bottom. In the only match that went to three sets, senior captain Chanel Glasper pulled out the victory in dramatic fashion against Army’s Bridget Guenard, (7-5, 3-6, 10-8). Glasper’s two singles wins over the weekend gives her a career total of 67, seven behind Jessica Podlofsky’s school record.

Freshman phenom Ana Yrazusta followed suit and powered through the weekend, dropping just three games during her two singles victories, (6-1, 6-0; 6-1, 6-1). Yrazusta also registered two wins at the No. 1 doubles spot alongside junior Carol Benito, also in her first year at UMass after transferring from Tulsa.

The pairing of Benito and Yrazusta has been strong for Dixon’s squad this year, and their two wins bump their doubles record to 13-4 on the season.

Benito, who also cruised to two straight-set victo-

5th in Arkansas

By Nick Souza

to make her realize that she has already competed Massachusetts track against top notch competiand field distance run- tion like this.” ner Heather MacLean Not Quite Finished raced the 800-meter run In order to qualify for at the Tyson Invitational nationals, MacLean needs in Fayetteville, Arkansas, one of the best 16 times in finishing fifth in the starthe country. She entered studded event. the Tyson Invitational While professional runneeding a strong time to ner and Arkansas alum qualify her and end the Stephanie Brown won the waiting game. race, MacLean finished “We’re hoping to get it with a time of 2:07.81. out of the way now in this The race was held at the meet, because Atlantic same venue as the NCAA 10 and New England Indoor Track and Field Championships won’t give Championships, which a real chance to qualify,” will take place March LaFreniere said.

13-14, and is considered The Minutewomen one of the fastest indoor will race in the Atlantic tracks in the country.

10 championships on Feb. The Tyson Invitational 21-22 and then the New was an opportunity for England Championships MacLean to compete with are the following week. some of the best runners LaFreniere maintains that in the country. According due to the structure of the to ustfccca.org, athletes races, MacLean won’t be competing this past weekable to put forth the kind end combined for 30 indiof race needed to qualify vidual NCAA titles. for nationals because she, “These are the type of like many other top runathletes she needs to go ners at the meet, will be toe to toe with if she wants doubling and tripling up in to compete at nationals,” events.

UMass women’s track “She will need to run at and field coach Julie least a low 2:06, but we’re LaFreniere said. “And I’ve done everything I could see MACLEAN on page 7 Collegian Staff

ALEX LINDSAY/COLLEGIAN

Ana Yrazusta and Carol Benito celebrate against Army on Feb. 13. ries over the weekend in singles, drew praise from Dixon for her influence on and off the court.

“I’ve been really impressed with Carol Benito, with her play both in singles and doubles,” Dixon said. “I’m impressed with her mental toughness.

I would sort of single her out … I think that she’s been a real mature influence on the team.”

Minutewomen Arielle Griffin and Anna Woosley each secured three victories as well. Woosley leads the team with 12 singles victories.

On to the Big Green

While UMass has charged through its oppo-

nents, it will face its toughest task of the young spring season Feb. 26 when it travels to Hanover, New Hampshire, to take on Dartmouth. The Big Green, fresh off claiming the ECAC Women’s Indoor Tennis Championship last weekend, comes into the match ranked No. 47 in the nation. Dixon is well aware of what lies ahead.

“This is a much tougher school to play and we play them away, so the focus over the next 10 days will be what to do with Dartmouth,” Dixon said.

Arthur Hayden can be reached at awhayden@umass.edu.