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Thursday, February 5, 2015
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Committee presents diversity plan to University Community input is next step for UM
to emphasize that what was released is a draft, and is open to discussion at an open forum on Thursday from 4-5 p.m. in the Campus Center By Catherine Ferris Auditorium. Collegian Staff “What we’re doing is get The University of ting input from the commuMassachusetts has been nity. We’re doing less of a engaged in a two-year pro- presentation (today) and givcess focused on diversity, and ing people an opportunity to recently, a draft of a diver- give feedback,” he said. sity plan was released to the The committee, began campus community. writing the draft in late Robert Feldman, the dep- spring 2014. They also met in uty chancellor and chair of May, as well as a few times the steering committee that during the summer. It was put the plan together, wanted last semester that the com-
members of Student Bridges and Vinayak Rao, president of the Student Government Association. Part of the reason for the committee meeting last semester as frequently as they did had to do with the events surrounding Robert Feldman, Ferguson and the campus Deputy Chancellor and reaction. Feldman said the Chair of the Steering Committee emotion led them to feel a mittee began meeting once included Enku Gelaye, sense of urgency to accelerate the planning process. each week. Vice Chancellor of Student “We did a lot of looking Feldman said the mem- Affairs and Campus Life, at where we are as a cambers of the committee were Josh Odam and Jasmine pus, and where we should be “broad and terrific.” They Bertrand-Haliday, both going, and how we can get
“I think one of the hallmarks of the chancellor’s process as he’s laid this out is transparency. There really are no secrets. We also have a strong feeling that we want to get feedback from people.”
Snowboarding on the Beach
there,” Feldman said. “It was a very large task.” Through several sources of feedback, including meetings, presentations and meetings with the deans of different colleges, Feldman said the committee continues to collect data and feedback through “unit planning.” The data and feedback will be put into one plan, and Feldman sees a point in which there is a finished plan. But he is not interested in see
DIVERSITY on page 2
MASSPIRG targets costly textbooks Campaign pushes open-source books By Cecilia Prado Collegian Staff
ANDY CASTILLO/COLLEGIAN
A UMass student snowboards onto a rail during Winter Festival, an event hosted by the UMass Ski and Board Club and the University Programming Council.
A new campaign has been launched to raise awareness about opensource textbooks by MASSPIRG. Open source textbooks are textbooks licensed under an open copyright license, which allows faculty and students to download them for no cost or get affordable printed versions. According to Matt Magalhaes, a University of Massachusetts student working on the campaign, the objective is to educate students and teachers about this new tool that could possibly reduce student spending on textbooks by 80 percent. “Our goal is to teach professors about this relatively new tool
and how it could possibly help students reach their full potential,” said Magalhaes. The M A S S P I RG Education Fund released a survey showing that about 65 percent of student consumers opted out of buying a college textbook in the past because of the cost. The University has already signed an Open Education Initiative during fall 2014, which supports faculty interested in providing students a lowcost alternative to commercial textbooks. However, the majority of the courses at UMass still require students to buy traditional school materials. Z l at a M ys h ch u k , a senior majoring in Microbiology at the University, mentioned that students could easily see
TEXTBOOKS on page 3
Taiwan plane crash kills 31 US ‘inclined’ to arm Ukraine
Flight hit bridge, crashed into river By Yu-Tzu Chiu dpa
TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwanese passenger plane hurtled into a river after hitting a bridge shortly after taking off from a Taipei airport on Wednesday, killing at least 31 people. TransAsia Airways flight 235 with 53 passengers and five crew members on board was en route from Songshan Airport to Kinmen Island when it crashed after takeoff at 10:52 a.m. (0252 GMT), according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration. The twin-engine ATR 72 turboprop avoided the tall buildings of Taipei’s Nangang district, but its wing hit a bridge and it plunged into the river, a dramatic video posted online from a car’s dashcam showed. By late Wednesday, 40 people on the flight had been accounted for, the aviation authority said. Fifteen people injured were hospitalized, while 12 peo-
ple remained missing. The driver of a taxi, which was struck by the plane’s wing, and a passenger inside were also hospitalized. Rescuers hoisted the wreckage from the Keelung River with cranes. TransAsia Airways chief executive officer Peter Chen apologized to the public. He said there were 31 Chinese tourists and 22 Taiwanese passengers on board. Taiwan’s minister for the Mainland Affairs Council, a government body that deals with the Beijing authorities, said it would offer assistance to the family members of the affected Chinese tourists. According to the staterun Central News Agency, China’s equivalent Taiwan Affairs Office will send a team to the island as soon as possible. The cause of the crash was still unknown. Local media reported that analysts suspected that one of the engines lost power; the plane failed to gain altitude after takeoff. TransAsia Airways said the plane was the latest ATR-72-600 type craft and
Cluster-bombings reported recently By Carol J. Williams Los Angeles Times
MCT
TransAsia Airways flight 235 hit a bridge in Taiwan on Wednesday. The plane then crashed into the Keelung River, killing 48 of the 59 people on board. the engines were new. Its most recent safety check was conducted Jan. 26. Aviation authority director Lin Chih-ming said the plane was the same type as TransAsia Airways flight GE222 that crashed in Penghu in July 2014, killing 48 of the 59 people on board.
European security officials appealed to the warring parties in Ukraine on Wednesday to hold their fire for three days so that thousands of civilians can be evacuated from a battleground where hundreds have died in recent days, including in reported cluster-bomb attacks. Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia separatists has intensified since a brief lull over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, and fresh infusions of Russian arms and fighters have helped the rebels deal several strategic setbacks to the Kiev government. The shifting ground in the 10-month-old battle between the Russianbacked rebels and Western-allied Ukrainian troops has rekindled a debate in Washington and in Brussels over whether Kiev’s allies should provide the embattled govern-
ment with lethal aid. Ukrainian President Petro P o r o s h e n ko expressed high confidence Wednesday that the United States would provide the government with the weaponry it needs to beat back the latest separatist advances, which included taking control of the devastated Donetsk international airport that had been fiercely fought over since May. “I don’t have a slightest doubt that the decision to supply Ukraine with weapons will be made by the United States as well as by other partners of ours, because we need to have the capabilities to defend ourselves,” Poroshenko said during a visit to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, still g o ve r n m e n t - c o n t r o l l e d but bordering the separatist-occupied areas. Later Wednesday, President Barack Obama’s nominee as the next defense secretary, Ashton Carter, told his Senate confirmation hearing that he was “very much inclined” to provide the weapons the Ukrainian government
has been requesting for months. To date, U.S. and European assistance to the Kiev government has been limited to nonlethal military goods like nightvision goggles and body armor. “My responsibilities would be to protect America and its friends and allies in a turbulent and dangerous world,” Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We need to support Ukraine in defending themselves.” Polish officials said Tuesday they were prepared to provide arms to Ukraine, but other European Union members, in particular Germany, have warned against introducing more weapons into the conflict and called instead for stepped-up diplomatic intervention. Intensified fighting around the strategic rail hub in the eastern Ukraine town of Debaltseve prompted officials of the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to call for a threesee
UKRAINE on page 3
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Thursday, February 5, 2015
THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN
DailyCollegian.com
Winter Festival delights
THE RU N D OW N ON THIS DAY... In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a plan to expand the size of Supreme Court to 15 judges. Roosevelt’s infamous “court-packing” plan, condemned by many critics, never passed.
AROUND THE WORLD
Mexico
MEXICO CITY —
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday named a new Cabinet-level minister to investigate
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINA YACONO/COLLEGIAN
whether homes that he, his
Daniel Ivas (top left), Kiel Miller (bottom left), Daniel Hopmans (right) compete in Winter Festival, an event hosted by the UMass Ski and Board Club and the University Programming Council at Southwest Beach on Friday.
finance minister and wife purchased from government contractors represented conflicts of interest.
The public function
minister, Virgilio Andrade, will also be charged with fighting corruption and increasing transparency, Pena Nieto said in a speech at the presidential palace in Mexico City. Bloomberg News
Netherlands
THE HAGUE — Mutual
claims of genocide brought by Croatia and Serbia that date back to the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s were dismissed Tuesday by the UN’s highest court.
The ruling by the
International Court of Justice in The Hague ends a 16-year legal battle launched by Croatia in 1999. Serbia countered with its own claim of genocide in 2010. dpa
Israel
JERUSALEM — A day
of prayer ended in mourning for members of Israel’s Negev desert Bedouin community Tuesday when eight women returning from a trip to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem were killed in a road accident.
The accident occurred
when a truck transporting farm machinery collided with a bus carrying about 50 women from several Bedouin communities on a road in southern Israel, police officials said. Los Angeles Times
Bangladesh
DHAKA — At least seven
people were killed and several others seriously wounded Tuesday when their bus was struck by a gasoline bomb in the deadliest attack in weeks of spiraling political violence in Bangladesh.
The assault brought the
death toll from the monthlong unrest to 54 people, nearly half of whom have perished in arson attacks by demonstrators seeking to impose a nationwide land and sea blockade in opposition to Prime Minister Sheik Hasina Wajed’s government. Los Angeles Times Distributed by MCT Information Services
Cleveland cops to use body cameras Program in wake of Tamir Rice’s death By James Queally Los Angeles Times
Cleveland police have begun wearing body cameras as part of a program to outfit 1,500 officers with the devices, the department announced Wednesday, nearly 10 weeks after a city police officer shot and killed Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old who was holding a toy gun. Wednesday’s announcement makes Cleveland the latest city to deploy body cameras as a transparency measure following a controversial police killing in the last year. Cleveland spent $2.4 million to outfit nearly all of the city’s 1,510 officers with TASER’s Axon Flex bodyworn cameras, and at least 200 officers in one of the city’s high-crime neighborhoods are expected to be outfitted with the devices by the end of the week, according to Detective Jennifer Ciaccia, a police spokeswoman. “The cameras will provide accurate documentation of police/citizen encounters and assist with reporting, evidence collection and court testimony,” the department said in a statement. “Body-worn cameras have been shown to reduce the number of complaints and use-offorce incidents in law enforcement.” The deployment of the cameras comes a little more than two months after Officer Timothy Loehmann shot and killed Tamir seconds after approaching the boy in his patrol car. Tamir was holding a toy gun. Police union officials have said Loehmann, a rookie officer with a troubled past who had been dismissed from another police department before he was hired in Cleveland, believed the gun was real and did not realize Tamir was so young. Ciaccia said that the department has been researching the use of body cameras since 2012 and that some officers began wearing them as part of a pilot program last summer. The cameras are to constantly record video of an officer’s activities in 30-second loops, but will record longer sections of audio and video during police pursuits, vehicle stops and other interactions between officers and the public. The recordings will be maintained on an evidence collection website managed
“The cameras will provide accurate documentation of police/citizen encounters and assist with reporting, evidence collection and court testimony.” Cleveland Police Department by TASER and will be subject to open public records requests in Ohio, Ciaccia said. Officers will not be able to edit, delete or alter recordings once the footage is stored on the server, according to the department’s policy on camera usage. Officers, however, will have to manually switch between the two recording methods, Ciaccia said. Also, the cameras will not actually record “for stor-
DIVERSITY simply completing the plan and then forgetting about it. “I think there’s a real sense from Chancellor (Kumble Subbaswamy) that he wants the plan to be a living document, and reflect changes in the campus as we move ahead,” Feldman said. Feldman also recognized the chancellor’s role in the process of drafting the plan. He said the chancellor attended some meetings, but this issue is something that is important to him. “While he has not been involved in the ‘day to day’ things, he’s looked at the plan, is supportive of it and sees it as absolutely essential to make the campus the best place it can be,” Feldman said. While it is Feldman’s job to work with Subbaswamy and make sure the tasks on his agenda are put into place, this is an issue that is important to him personally as well. Prior to his position as Deputy Chancellor, Feldman worked in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, leading him to develop an interest in the
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topic. “It’s an essential interest. I’m a social psychologist, and it’s one of those core issues social psychologists are interested in. I have, for my own disciplinary point of view, a real interest in this.” The plan outlined a number of different points, including the admissions process, something Feldman believes should be examined further, saying there are not as many underrepresented minority students as there should be on campus. Feldman said the chancellor has suggested they hire someone to assist with undergraduate admissions, and focus on raising the number of underrepresented minority students. “It’s not just a matter of saying ‘I want to do it.’ We really have to put some resources in place and provide more funding and scholarships,” said Feldman. Though, there have been some difficulties in coming up with the sufficient funds for scholarship money that would allow the University to move forward with that
plan, Feldman believes it is a task that must be done. He has also collected data that shows many minority students feel there are relatively profound racial problems with microaggressions. “We can’t have that. Increasing the number of students of color will help the overall environment. We need to have students having conversation with people who are different from they are,” Feldman said. Throughout the planning and put into writing the draft and meeting, Feldman stressed the importance of feedback and being open with the students on behalf of the committee and the chancellor. “I think one of the hallmarks of the chancellor’s process as he’s laid this out is transparency. There really are no secrets. We also have a strong feeling that we want to get feedback from people.” Catherine Ferris can be reached at caferris@umass.edu and followed on Twitter at @Ca_Ferris2.
age purposes” unless the officer presses a button on the device. Civil rights advocates have been critical of that feature
in
other
cities
where the TASER camera model is used, saying it gives officers too much power to pick and choose what will be recorded. Other ing
cities
cameras
deployfollowing
police shootings include Ferguson,
Mo.,
where
police officers began wearing cameras after Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown in July. Last year, the New York City
Police
Department
also announced a pilot program that would see 60 officers begin wearing body cameras just months after the death of Eric Garner, although the NYPD camera policy was part of a larger settlement
involving
its
controversial use of stopand-frisk tactics. And
in
December,
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced plans to buy 7,000 body-worn cameras from TASER for LAPD
officers
to
wear,
making Los Angeles the first major U.S. city to use the devices on a large scale.
This week on DailyCollegian.com BLOG – UMass Football announces 2015 recruiting class on National Signing Day. Inside the Park with Marky Mark: February 3, 2015 – The Daily Collegians Anthony Chiusano, Marc Jean-Louis and UMass Sports Weekly analyst John Andersen recap the Patriots Super Bowl, Umass Hockey and college Basketball.
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TEXTBOOKS spend a few hundred dollars on textbooks. “Especially in the sciences, some textbooks could cost over $300,” she said. According to a study by the Government Accountability Office, the cost of textbooks grew 82 percent between 2002 and 2013. The College Board estimates the annual cost of textbooks and materials for the average college student to be approximately $1,168. “I believe students have the potential and ability to make a change, but we don’t always have the tools,” Magalhaes said. Open-source textbooks are not only licensed in a way that they can be freely downloaded, but it also allows students to meet course standards and keeping up with current research. This is of particular importance, because it is one of the reasons professors are inclined to require the newest edition of a textbook for a particular course. MASSPIRG recently organized the first national social media campaign
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about the issue, creating the hashtag “#textbookbroke.” Students used the hashtag to share their experiences and opinions regarding the cost of textbooks. The MASSPIRG chapter at UMass is interested in informing students around campus about this alternative, while also encouraging them to get involved in the campaign. In addition, the staff hopes that they get an opportunity to organize educational events at the end of the year, such as open forums for students and informative workshops for professors. “We hope to let students know that this option is out there, and hopefully have a chance to teach professors about these resources and how to use them,” Magalhaes said. Cecilia Prado can be reached at sprado@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @thececiliaprado.
By Tina Susman Los Angeles Times
NEW YORK — Investigators were headed Wednesday to the scene of a deadly commuter railroad crash north of New York City. The crash occurred Tuesday evening after a rail crossing gate came down onto an SUV, which was then slammed by a fast-moving train. Six people were killed, including the SUV’s driver and five people on MetroNorth’s No. 659 train out of Grand Central Terminal. Fire consumed the front car of the train as the electrified third rail on the track was dislodged and sliced through the passenger compartment. Calling it a “minor miracle,” Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said at a news conference Wednesday that a search of the wreckage had determined there was one less fatality than had been initially reported after the crash. Key questions facing National Transportation Safety Board investigators headed to the scene from Washington include whether there was a malfunction of the crossing gate that caused it to lower onto the
vehicle; how fast the train was traveling; and whether something prevented the SUV’s driver from exiting the track. Witnesses have said the driver, a woman, was on the track during a period of heavy traffic when the gate lowered onto the back of her Jeep. She got out of the car and walked around to the back to check on potential damage from the gate, according to witnesses. Then she got into the vehicle, began moving forward, and was slammed by the train loaded with hundreds of rush-hour commuters. Compounding the gravity of the crash, the track’s third rail became dislodged and rammed into the train’s front car, causing a fire that consumed the coach as it hit the SUV and pushed it another 400 feet up the track. “That train had so many flames and it was so engulfed, the inside of that first car is just melted and charred,” Astorino said. “You think, my God, this could have been much, much worse,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Fox’s “Good Day New York” about nine hours after visiting the scene. “And it was as gruesome as anything I’ve seen and as ugly as anything I’ve seen.” The crash, about 30 miles
3
FCC suggests tough net neutrality rules
Obama-backed plan to treat net as utility By Jim Puzzanghera Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Commission said Wednesday that he is proposing tough new rules governing online traffic that would regulate Internet service like a public utility but modernize the oversight “for the 21st century.” The proposed net neutrality rules would prohibit broadband companies from charging websites for faster delivery of their content and from blocking or slowing any legal online content or service, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. The regulations would apply to wired and wireless Internet service, he said in an opinion article on Wired’s website. “The Internet must be fast, fair and open. That is the message I’ve heard from consumers and innovators across this nation,” Wheeler said in announcing his steps after millions of comments
Six dead in NY train wreck
SUV-train collision under investigation
Thursday, February 5, 2015
north of New York City in suburban Westchester County, was the worst accident in the history of Metro-North, the nation’s second-busiest commuter railroad. Until December 2013, Metro-North prided itself on never having had a passenger fatality. But that month, four passengers died when a train derailed while speeding around a curve in New York City. Seven months earlier, in May 2013, two separate incidents killed a MetroNorth employee and caused two trains to collide in Connecticut. The NTSB subsequently issued a report accusing Metro-North of sacrificing safety in its quest to keep trains running on time. Among other things, it said the train involved in the December 2013 crash was traveling more than 80 mph when it entered a curve zoned for about 30 mph. It also said the driver, who said he had “zoned out” briefly, suffered from severe sleep apnea but had not received proper medical screening.
flooded the agency. “That is the principle that has enabled the Internet to become an unprecedented platform for innovation and human expression,” he said. “The proposal I present to the commission will ensure the Internet remains open, now and in the future, for all Americans.” Wheeler’s proposal must be approved by a majority of the five-member FCC, which is scheduled to vote on it Feb. 26. “My proposal assures the rights of Internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products wihtout asking anyone’s permission,” Wheeler said. Wheeler is a Democrat appointed by President Barack Obama, and the FCC has a 3-2 Democratic majority. His fellow Democrats are expected to back the proposal, with the Republican commissioners opposing it. Major Internet content companies have pushed the FCC for tough net neutrality rules. But broadband providers have threatened to sue the agency if it approves utility-like regulation, argu-
UKRAINE
ing it is overstepping the FCC’s authority. After a federal court tossed out the FCC’s net neutrality rules last year, Wheeler initially proposed a lighter regulatory approach that could have allowed for some so-called paid prioritization of content. But in November, Obama publicly called for the FCC to take a stronger approach that would classify the Internet as a regulated utility under Title 2 of the 1996 telecommunication law. Most Democrats support the tougher approach, but key congressional Republicans strongly oppose it. Wheeler says in the Wired article that he believes the FCC has the power to reclassify Internet service as a regulated utility. “The Congress gave the FCC broad authority to update its rules to reflect changes in technology and marketplace behavior in a way that protects consumers,” he said. “Over the years, the commission has used this authority to the public’s great benefit.” He argues that the Internet wouldn’t have developed if the FCC had
not mandated open access for network equipment in the late 1960s. Broadband companies and Republican opponents of utility-like regulation said it was meant for railroads and phone companies, not the fast-evolving Internet. Key congressional Republicans have proposed legislation that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking websites, slowing connection speeds and charging companies for faster delivery of their content – but without utilitylike regulation. Wheeler said Wednesday he would modernize the utility regulations so they would not squelch investment in broadband networks. For example, he said the FCC would not impose rate regulation or tariffs on Internet service. The regulations “will be strong enough and flexible enough not only to deal with the realities of today, but also to establish ground rules for the as-yet unimagined.”
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day cease-fire to evacuate civilians trapped between the front lines. OSCE Chairman Ivica Dacic appealed to “all actors in and around the Debaltseve area to establish a local temporary truce for a minimum of three days, taking immediate effect.” “The spiral of everincreasing violence in eastern Ukraine needs to stop,” European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement, adding the 28-nation economic alliance’s weight to the appeal. “The shelling of civilians, wherever it happens, is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. Artillery should immediately be withdrawn from residential areas.” There were no immediate responses from the combatants to the ceasefire appeal, which followed a United Nations human rights agency report a day earlier that at least 224 civilians were killed in artillery exchanges in the three weeks that ended Sunday. U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Raad Hussein warned Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia separatists on Tuesday that their disregard for the safety of civilians was a
Polish officials said Tuesday they were prepared to provide arms to Ukraine, but other European Union members, in particular Germany, have warned against introducing more weapons into the conflict and called instead for stepped-up diplomatic intervention. violation of international law and that they could face war crimes charges once the conflict ends. But shelling continued Wednesday in Donetsk, the eastern industrial city that was home to a million residents before the war, and around Debaltseve and their other major stronghold, Luhansk. Luhansk was the site of rocket attacks on Jan. 27 that killed two people and damaged numerous houses in a residential area, the OSCE reported Tuesday after inspecting the bombing scene. The monitoring team reported that the injuries, craters and structural damage were consistent with those “typically caused by shrapnel elements from cluster munition.” The OSCE observer team’s report on Wednesday also cited the use of cluster munitions in an attack on the separatist-controlled village of Komsomolske on Monday in which a 37-yearold woman was killed and
a 5-year-old girl gravely injured. Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the previous 24 hours, Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, told reporters in Kiev on Wednesday. Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported from Donetsk that shelling hit a hospital on Wednesday and inflicted an unspecified number of fatalities. The U.N. human rights report on Tuesday put the death toll from the fighting that began in April at 5,358, which it described as a “conservative estimate.” Separatists occupied government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk regions last spring after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent paratroopers to seize Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in late February. Russia annexed Crimea, which is home to its Black Sea fleet, three weeks later.
Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN
“This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” - George W. Bush
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Editorial@DailyCollegiancom
Charlie Hebdo: je suis offensive? I am assuming, at one time, the thought of a group of men with Kalashnikovs
Anthony Maddaleni storming into a Paris office building and subsequently murdering an entire editorial staff seemed like a paranoid belief. After all, what type of people would have the training and perverse motivation to do such a thing? Wars, from my rather limited understanding, are fought between opposing armies. However, the attack on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine, proved this once far-fetched belief is firmly grounded in reality.
“But please, realize that your views, however valid they may seem to be, are not a sufficient justification for preventing the magazine from being published.” The magazine, which has a long and controversial history of mocking politicians and major religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was attacked for publishing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed. The French-born Islamic terrorists, who are now thought to have trained and become radicalized in Yemen, carried out this assault in retaliation for this aforementioned picture’s publication. Far from paralyzing the French nation, millions took to the street in a show of strength and solidarity rarely seen in our modern world. The pencil has quickly become a widely recognized symbol of this attack; conveying the notion that violence can ultimately do nothing to stem the free exchange of ideas that is vital to maintain a healthy democratic society. However, there is some controversy surrounding around the cover of Charlie Hebdo’s next issue, which featured yet another caricature of Mohammed. Some believe this has exacerbated tensions in France and within the Muslim community as a whole. Although I understand this viewpoint, this issue, to me, is one of freedom of speech. Charlie Hebdo is a magazine that has mercilessly mocked and derided every major religion, and this includes Islam. Each and every religion should be open to both questioning and criticism. This attack, at its very core, sought to stifle and constrain one’s inherent right to freedom of speech. I applaud
Charlie Hebdo for its decision to refuse to capitulate to the demands of those that follow radical Islam. Satire is vital to any democracy. It is a tool to keep our elected leaders honest and it also allows individuals to mock the very institutions (organized religion, politics etc.) that seem to govern our everyday lives. Furthermore, this is a notion I am quite passionate about; free speech encompasses all ideas and philosophies, even those in which you or I may fervently disagree with. It is understandable why some followers of Islam may find the depiction of Mohammed offensive. By the same token, it is also understandable why those that follow Catholicism may find the magazine’s views on the Pope offensive as well. However, free speech does not merely protect those views that are agreeable or empathetic in some way. A true litmus test for any democracy is how a society treats those whose views are almost universally reviled. To draw a parallel within American society, take the Westboro Baptist Church or the Ku Klux Klan, for example. I, along with many other sane Americans, find their views to be utterly reprehensible. However, do my sensibilities provide justification for stifling their freedom of speech? No, it absolutely does not. We would not be a free and democratic society if individuals were prohibited from expressing their views, no matter how backwards or outlandish they may be. So, if you find Charlie Hebdo’s magazine cover offensive, I have a simple solution to this problem: do not buy the magazine. Do not view the cover. Express your dissatisfaction to your friends or loved ones. But please, realize that your views, however valid they may seem to be, are not a sufficient justification for preventing the magazine from being published. That is exactly what groups like ISIS and AQAP want. They want the West to become rattled by this. I say, let’s embrace the notion of a truly free society, and that will give these groups something to be afraid of. For in the end, violence can ultimately do nothing to prevent our views from being expressed. Bullets cannot kill an ideal. The notions of equality and free expression did not die in that Paris office building. Quite the contrary, they were reborn in the hearts and minds of each and every person who marched in Paris a few weeks ago. I suppose the old cliché is true: the pen is certainly mightier than the sword. Anthony Maddaleni is a Collegian contributor. He can be reached at amaddale@umass.edu.
The anti-vaccine movement: danger masquerading as freedom Not so long ago, there was a time South America.” The eradication of when the threat of disease was an smallpox, a disease that killed up to ever-present danger, a time when epi- 500 million people in the 20th century alone, with a worldwide vaccination Stefan Herlitz campaign is easily one of the crowning achievements of humanity. demics resulted in the deaths of mil- The present, however, is not the lions, not thousands. Smallpox, chol- golden age of vaccination that the latera, polio, whooping cough, measles, ter half of the 20th century was. There mumps and a whole host of other exists a vocal, growing minority that illnesses that once ravaged humanity campaigns for the ability to not vachave either been eliminated entirely or made extremely rare and survivable thanks to the development of vaccines. The current generation, however, largely does not have a memory of that time. Most of the population has never lived in a time when polio and smallpox were anything other than diseases for the history books. Many don’t recall that triumphant moment in May 1980 when the World Health cinate themselves and their children, Organization issued a proclamation: and also spreads fear, even going so far “Having considered the development as to claim that vaccines cause autism. and results of the global programme This claim is, of course, patently on smallpox eradication initiated by false. Scientific consensus has provWHO in 1958 and intensified since en time and again that there is no 1967 … [The WHO] declares solemnly link between vaccines and autism, yet that the world and its peoples have one in four Americans still believe won freedom from smallpox, which that vaccines cause autism. Many was a most devastating disease sweep- supporters of the anti-vaccine moveing in epidemic form through many ment point to a 1998 study that linked countries since earliest time, leaving childhood vaccines to autism, but “an death, blindness and disfigurement in investigation published by the British its wake and which only a decade medical journal BMJ concludes the ago was rampant in Africa, Asia and study’s author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield,
“Most of the population has never lived in a time when polio and smallpox were anything other than diseases for the history books.”
misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was “no doubt” Wakefield was responsible... Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license,” according to a CNN report, and the journal that had published Wakefield’s findings, “The Lancet,” published a formal retraction in 2004. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, a disturbing percentage of Americans are convinced that vaccines cause autism, or otherwise reject all vaccines on religious grounds, and as a result are weakening our children’s herd immunity to a wide variety of illnesses. Schools are, have been and always will be hotbeds for viruses and illnesses to spread, so it is imperative that children be properly vaccinated. While the state has no business regulating the personal decisions of individuals, that protection cannot extend to choices that actively endanger others. Non-vaccination puts lives in danger—not just the lives of those opting out of vaccines, but those of others, and every day children are falling ill with deadly, preventable illnesses simply because some irresponsible parents choose not to vaccinate theirs. Stefan Herlitz is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at sherlitz@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.
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Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN
“I had a brain that felt like pancake batter.” - The White Stripes
Thursday, February 5, 2015
FILM REVIEWS
Arts@DailyCollegian.com
TELEVISION
Tall ambition fills Endgame of ‘Thrones’ plays out series should a few short frames HBO finish before books
Live Action Shorts reveal ample talent By Alexander Frail Collegian Staff
Within brief runtimes, this year’s Oscar-nominated live action shorts delve into broad topics like immigration, alienation, ennui and suicide. Ambitious as some of these films are, they also maintain an endearing sense of simplicity; fancy camerawork, special effects and scores find no quarter here. But what’s most impressive about these small films is their ability to study vast social concepts and to grasp at their deep philosophies. Here’s a look at this year’s nominees for Best Live Action Short:
“Boogaloo and Graham” Clocking in at 14 minutes, “Boogaloo and Graham” holds the honor of shortest Live Action Short this year. A tender dramedy set in 1970s Belfast, Northern Ireland, this short film follows two brothers after their father (Martin McCann) gives them each a chick as a gift. However, a pregnancy in the family threatens the space the family gives to the chicks. While a sweet tale, “Boogaloo and Graham” is the most superficial of its contemporaries. A stylish juxtaposition between imposing Belfast soldiers and the father huddling two chicks makes for some interesting foreshadowing, but otherwise, the short wraps up expectedly with little to say. While it is a feel-good affair, it won’t have the grit to take home the award.
performances. Although the camera rarely leaves her desk, I never felt as stuck as I should have. Her facial expressions and voice kept me rapt. At the same time, Broadbent enthralled me with a purely vocal performance. His voice emotes ocean’s deep despair. Despite remaining faceless, I could picture his teary eyes with every word he whispers into Heather’s ear. “The Phone Call” falters by bookending itself with a paltry romance. When Heather first walks in to her office, the timid exchange between her and a coworker actually misguided me on the following narrative, and it took a few moments to realize the film wouldn’t actually study them. Then after Heather and Stan’s riveting exchange, the narrative wanders back to that timidity. Thematically it makes sense. In execution, it detracts from an otherwise wonderful film.
“Butter Lamp”
Here’s the most unique film I’ve ever seen. Throughout the entirety of “Butter Lamp,” its camera never moves. It centers upon a stool and a changeable backdrop that a photographer changes after each photo he takes of varying villagers. It’s as if Wes Anderson stepped in to frame the first symmetrical shot, but then just left it for the next 15 minutes. As each photograph is staged and then broken down, the photographer speaks with the mayor of the village and other villagers. Through these conversations, we get a glimpse at their world. Then the backdrop slides up slowly. Behind it lies the truth about this “Parvaneh” world, an ending so poetic “Parvaneh” follows its and profound you’ll ponder titular protagonist (Nissa it for hours after the screen Kashani), an Afghan girl liv- goes black. ing in Zurich, as she search“Aya” es for a way to send money to her ailing father back home. Director Talkhon Hamzavi “Aya,” a French-Israeli deftly establishes a sense of short directed by Oded alienation. When Parvaneh Binnun and Mihal Brezis, gazes at a mountain of myri- follows the titular woman (a ad lipsticks, I felt just as lost mesmerizing Sarah Adler) as she does. Throughout the after she picks up a Danish film, she struggles to breach stranger, Mr. Overby (Ulrich a language barrier until she Thomsen), at the airport. meets a willing stranger Her decision to spontanewho takes her on an odyssey ously deceive this man acts through a night of Western as the film’s central mystery. culture. Like “Boogaloo,” The answer is far less inter“Parvaneh” can’t boast eye- esting than what bookends it. popping style, but its tender Adler’s acting is at once tale of budding friendship charming, hilarious and melancholy. As she sizes up charms nonetheless. Overby at the airport, you can tell she’s as innocent as “The Phone Call” a child playing a game. She I was reminded of “Locke,” deceives him playfully, as if another British film, when on a whim. Her confession I saw “The Phone Call.” to Overby had me laughing Whereas the Tom Hardy more than any comedy I’ve drama plants us in a car, seen this year, while her this Sally Hawkins vehicle resigned acceptance of alienfocuses on a phone call she ation from her loved ones receives at her desk. An broke my heart. Adler owns employee for a crisis hot- this film. It’s hers and hers line, Heather (Hawkins) alone. answers a call from Stan Meanwhile, the film (Jim Broadbent), whose dis- itself shines with a magitressed rambling peels back cal sense of adventure and wonder. The intimacy the the layers of his pathos. Directed by Mat Kirkby, characters share on a drive “The Phone Call” raises to Jerusalem leaps off the tension like a good thrill- screen. It’s the same magic er. Quick cuts focus on that permeated “Lost in Heather’s thumbs tapping Translation.” Innocence and her watch, ever reminding intimacy abound in “Aya,” her that time is running out. and the film is as beautifully The pace of those cuts keeps bittersweet as Aya’s exprespace with her desperation. sion as Overby plays piano Then they slow. The rhyth- on her hand. mic editing adheres perfectly to Heather’s pulse. Alexander Frail can be reached at Both Hawkins and afrail@umass.edu and followed on Broadbent deliver stunning Twitter @AlexanderFrail.
By Alexander Frail Collegian Staff
It’s a question as old as Aegon the Conqueror’s arrival in Westeros: what will finish first, “A Song of Ice and Fire” or “Game of Thrones?” Now, four years since “A Dance With Dragons’” publication, the book series by George R.R. Martin seems destined to conclude after its progeny, the wildly successful HBO program. Producers of “Game of Thrones” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have announced that they’ll end the show by the eighth season at the latest. As an avid fan of both “Ice and Fire” and “Thrones,” I argue that’s not a bad thing at all. The seventh season of “Game of Thrones” faces a projected airdate in 2017. Meanwhile, “The Winds of Winter,” the next installment to “Ice and Fire,” won’t be published until at least 2016, while the most recent two books have shared a publication gap of five and a half years, with the forthcoming novel set to honor that delay. If “A Dream of Spring,” the ultimate chapter in Westeros, follows suit, Martin’s opus won’t close before 2021. There’s no feasible way for Benioff and Weiss to elongate the show to match its source material. While unorthodox, finishing the progeny before the inspiration will pay off down the road. The longer “Game of Thrones” lingers, the farther it’ll wander from “Ice and Fire,” from its protracted excellence and from our hearts. So far, “Game of Thrones” has diverged sparingly from “Ice and Fire,” as far as adaptations go. Techniques like conflating several minor characters into one for the show have honored the series’ spirit while cloaking it in a filmable guise.
MCT
“Game of Thrones,” starring Emilia Clarke, will likely conclude before its inspiration, “A Song of Ice and Fire.” However, last year’s alterations suggest these methods are nearing their end. Most notably, season four glimpsed the Others in the Land of Always Winter. The brief scene took us farther north than Martin ever has. Though exciting, the sequence fizzled out. The show never returned to the Others or expanded on the storyline. It was as if the show just had to remind us that those supernatural things were still doing supernatural stuff way up there. Insertions to Martin’s canon have largely paid off – think Arya (Maisie Williams) and Tywin’s (Charles Dance) acquaintanceship in season two – but they’ll soon waterlog the show. A point will come when they’re used so Martin has time to wrap up “Ice and Fire.” As a practitioner of literary sacrilege, I read book one after viewing season one. Although I redeemed myself by reading the subsequent books before watching the corresponding seasons, this initial experience reassures me as “Game of Thrones’” endgame takes shape. Season one’s horrifying
twist revealed book one’s biggest spoiler, but as I read Ned Stark’s last stand later on, it felt as fresh and shocking as if I’d never seen Sean Bean whisper that chilling prayer on the steps of Baelor’s Sept. Reading it after viewing it stole none of Martin’s magic. Furthermore, the intricacies of Martin’s narratives delve further into Westeros than the program ever could. So even if Benioff and Weiss match Martin’s conclusion, the final novel will offer a fresh, more complex ending. Chances are some characters within both “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring” won’t appear in the show, while several subplots won’t make the cut. As with the first five novels, the final two will maintain a unique feel from the show. As far as sustenance goes, television has a dearth where bookshelves have a surplus. “Game of Thrones” can’t and shouldn’t stay on the air for a decade plus, while Martin can and should take years to perfect his opus’s denouement. Programs often lose their appeal after five or so seasons. Books can keep readers engaged for decades.
No better proof exists than none other than “A Song of Ice and Fire,” first published in 1996 and never more popular than now. All of “Game of Thrones’” contemporaries hit peaks where it now stands. “Breaking Bad” finished in a blaze of fifth season glory, “Mad Men” hit its pinnacle around its fourth and fifth years and “Dexter” collapsed after a brilliant fourth season. Even “The Wire,” widely considered the greatest television show ever produced, peaked critically in season four, its penultimate outing. So the footrace has ended in spirit. I’ll admit, it was a tough pill to swallow, but both the show and the novels will benefit from this decision. The show can end on top, and Martin gains take ample time to perfect “A Song of Ice and Fire’s” conclusion. Moreover, whether you watch it before you read, or play the scholar and read it first, Westeros never fails to enthrall. Alexander Frail can be reached at afrail@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @AlexanderFrail.
FILM
Wachowskis’ legacy still ‘Ascending’ By John Anderson Newsday
According to the 2000 census, there are approximately 760,000 Andersons in the United States. And it’s fairly safe to say that a considerable percentage of the male members of that notso-exclusive club have, at one time or another, been greeted with “Misssssteraaanderson ...” It happens at the doctor’s office and the DMV, while having your tires rotated or your teeth cleaned. You get it from people you never imagined went to the movies at all, much less to messianic sci-fi extravaganzas. It makes you wonder: How many people have seen “The Matrix”? Lots. The 1999 effectsheavy adventure, the second feature directed by the Wachowski brothers (later the Wachowski siblings, after Lana’s née Larry sexual reassignment surgery), is among the most financially successful, honored and revered films in the sci-fi canon. It spawned two sequels, “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions” (both 2003). It’s impossible to tell how many have seen it on DVD, on-demand or on pirated downloads. But the
Matrix-ites are legion. The Wachowskis’ latest, “Jupiter Ascending,” opens Friday and will mark the first time since the birth of the “Matrix” franchise that the sibs have directed a film from their own original screenplay. Whether they’ve concocted anything really original remains to be seen. However: The frequency by which one gets the elongated “Mister Anderson” from perfect strangers (the line was first uttered by Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith in addressing Thomas Anderson/Neo, played by Keanu Reeves) indicates, albeit unscientifically, just how widespread their influence has been among viewers. On the screen, that influence is more quantifiable, and has been largely stylistic, technological and cyberpunkish. The so-called “bullet-time” technique, in which a character’s heightened sense of perception is illustrated by having everything around that character move in slo-verging-on-frozen motion, was a signature of “The Matrix,” and has since become ubiquitous. The sources from which “The Matrix” derives exalted the whole genre, to an almost
ridiculous level. Its sources, critics have noted, range from novelist William Gibson’s “Necromancer” to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” to the New Testament (Neo’s status as the prophesied “chosen One” always seemed a pretty obvious tipoff). Conversely, perhaps, the Wachowskis’ appeal has involved a low-to-the-ground fanboy sensibility. The filmmakers are usually pretty much in love with the process as much as the plotline, and don’t seem averse to the cult factor that has grown around “The Matrix,” even though it’s led to some unsavory associations. (By 2003, three accused killers had mounted a so-called “Matrix defense,” including Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the D.C. snipers.) It also has led to such dubious Wachowski efforts as the Razzie-nominated, liveaction “Speed Racer,” and the grandiose and largely unintelligible “Cloud Atlas” adaptation of 2012 (from David Mitchell’s novel), codirected with the German filmmaker Tom (“Run Lola Run”) Tykwer. At the time of “Cloud Atlas,” Andy Wachowski tried to explain to Newsday the filmmakers’ approach to an unwieldy
novel that they were trying to replicate the experience of having read the book, rather than reading it. “You read a book, you go to bed, you think about it, you sleep on it,” he said. “It impresses itself on your subconscious. While this is happening, your brain is finding connections in the book of the sort David Mitchell has ingeniously laid out between narratives.” But when you’ve created something like the “Matrix” trilogy with its half-billion in grosses, you get more than one second chance, even though the online trolling began some time ago in anticipation of their new movie. “Did the Wachowskis peak with ‘The Matrix?”” one site asks, not untypically. “Jupiter Ascending,” which stars Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis and Eddie Redmayne, will be “a science-fiction space opera,” Lana Wachowski told the Associated Press. “It has a lot of things from a lot of genres that we love. It’s got a lot of original action. It’s got a lot of romance.” Whether the romance continues with the Wachowskis among their fans, and their studio will depend on how high “Jupiter” ascends.
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Thursday, February 5, 2015
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Sea Burger
aquarius D inosaur C omics
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HOROSCOPES Jan. 20 - Feb. 18
That moment when your HP laptop cannot connect to your HP printer.
pisces
Feb. 19 - Mar. 20
leo
Jul. 23 - Aug. 22
It took me three hours to write you a horoscope and honestly, I see nothing.
virgo
Aug. 23 - Sept. 22
The more you think of going to sleep as “the ending to the day” the more unsettling it gets.
Maybe when you juice a potato and heat it up in order to reduce the liquid you get the most pure cream of potato soup in all the land.
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
I think I’m going to do it. I think I’m going to make that bologna pizza this weekend.
Here’s to hoping that another week will go by where your Monday-only class is cancelled.
Want your milk cold but can’t stand watered If you create art, you must destroy art. down moo juice? Pour some 2 percent into ice cube trays and you’ll never be sad again.
sagittarius
Nov. 22 - Dec. 21
Watching a documentary about how walls are made helps you to learn that there are no original and creative ideas anymore.
Recording your professor’s lectures allows you to learn to study in your professor’s voice.
cancer
capricorn
Jun. 22 - Jul. 22
When you’re complaining about the wind chill and negative degrees think about that summer burn on the tops of your feet.
Dec. 22 - Jan. 19
Take a moment to just writhe and wiggle your entire body while walking to class. I promise you, it’s the freest you’ll ever feel.