Massachusetts Daily Collegian: April 25th, 2016

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DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, April 25, 2016

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Final jam session

UM GOP hosts talk Monday Event to focus on political correctness By Patricia LeBoeuf Collegian Staff

ERICA LOWENKRON/COLLEGIAN

The Leach Boys peform in the Northeast Residential Area during Quad Fest on Sunday.

The University of Massachusetts College Republicans will host a discussion on political correctness featuring speakers Christina Hoff Somers, Milo Yiannopoulos and Steven Crowder on Monday, April 25 at 7 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium. The event is titled “The Triggering: Has Political Correctness Gone Too Far?” “Obviously we, as colle ge Republicans, think that it (has),” said Nicholas Pappas, a senior operations and information management major and current membership chair of the club. “We really want to give other students our perspective,” he said.

Pappas explained that the event isn’t solely about trigger warnings — it will also include discussions of microaggressions, cultural appropriation and issues of race and gender. Hoff Somers is a former philosophy professor and current resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Yiannopoulos is a British journalist and entrepreneur, while Crowder is a political commentator, actor and comedian. “We picked them all because they were each speakers who played off each other’s strengths,” said Pappas. Pappas described the panelists’ views as mainstream in many ways. According to Pappas, the event will include a question-and-answer session with the audience as well. see

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Chabad House hosts Passover for UMass community Rabbi invited guests into his home for Seder By Lia Gips Collegian Staff On Saturday, the second night of the Jewish holiday Passover, Chabad House held the second of two Seders open to the UMass community. Passover celebrates the flight of the Jews from their enslavement in Egypt 3,000 years ago. Also known as Pesach, the holiday spans eight days and nights, during which observant Jews limit their diets to foods that their ancestors might have carried with them

as they fled into the desert to escape slavery. Friday’s expedited 90-minute Seder hosted approximately 30 student guests, as well as the Rabbis Adelman and Gottleib, and Adelman’s wife and children. Rabbi Chaim Adelman and his wife, Yocheved Adelman, are the co-coordinators of Chabad House. Chabad is an orthodox movement within Judaism. Among other efforts, Chabad establishes outreach centers called Chabad Houses, the Amherst branch of which resides near the Southwest Residential Area. As an orthodox organization, Passover at Chabad House means observance of the many principles

of Passover, primarily a dietary restriction that Jews not consume the grains wheat, barley, rye, spelt or oats. These temporarily forbidden foods are called “chametz.” The Talmud mandates that Jews avoid chametz as well as some other foods during the entire eight days of Passover. “Passover is an opportunity to balance your ego by reflecting on past suffering,” Yocheved Adelman said. “There can be peer pressure to be who you’re not and Passover helps to find the real you.” Like all Seders, Chabad’s told the story of the Jew’s enslavement 3,000 years ago by the pharaoh, king of Egypt, the 10 plagues that the Jewish people believe God helped

Moses bring upon Egypt and the escape from Egypt to ultimately reach Mount Sinai and receive the Ten Commandments when Moses returned from his trip up. Also like most Seders, a strong theme of the event was discussion of the continued relevance of the story of Passover, and its relationships to global oppression. “Passover teaches us that without the guidance of God, we are susceptible to our emotions and fears when we make decisions,” Chaim Adelman said. In Chaim Adelmen’s opinion, one of the main lessons of Passover is that the Talmud gives Jews a way to ethically structure their lives. In his view, the enslave-

ment and killing of Jewish firstborns by the Egyptian pharaoh was in part because the pharaoh had no relationship with God to guide his actions. “We talk about how even now, we are not free of our shackles, because we remain slaves to our own personal shortcomings,” Chaim Adelman said. Preparation for the Saturday Seder began at sundown, when the Jewish calendar marks the passage between day and night. All Jewish holidays begin at sundown and end at the next sunset, 24 hours later. Lia Gips can be reached at lgips@umass.edu.

Afro-American studies Bernie Sanders says he still department honors retiree has a path to the nomination Bracey joined UM campus in 1972 By Rachel Ravelli Collegian Staff

On Thursday evening friends and colleagues of John H. Bracey Jr. gathered in the Augusta Savage Gallery at the New Africa House to honor the professor’s history at the University of Massachusetts as he retires from his position as chair of the Afro-American Studies Department. Throughout the evening, students and faculty members of the Afro-American Studies Department celebrated Bracey’s career as a professor, scholar and civil rights and Black Panther activist by sharing stories, words of praise and jazz music. “I have a lot of respect for John,” said Charles Neville, saxophonist for The Neville Brothers who played harmonica with his band on

Thursday. “He’s truly one of the smartest, you can talk to him about anything at all.” The air of the multicultural gallery was upbeat with the playing of celebratory songs as attendees commemorated Bracey’s support for the UMass community throughout the past 44 years. Terry Jenoure, director of the Augusta Savage Gallery in the New Africa House, opened the evening by explaining that the gallery has been organizing the event for about a year. Bracey, Jenoure said, has consistently attended the gallery’s exhibits and has bought art in order to support multicultural artists. “This event is not a performance, but an open dialogue to honor John,” said Jenoure, “Anyone can share what they want, no one needs to sit still!” Graduate students, former colleagues, friends and others rose to the stage and shared reflective, often humorous stories about their experiences with Bracey.

“(In Professor Bracey’s class) we would read major works, and every class he would bring a muffin and a cup of tea,” said Jim Carroll, a Ph.D. candidate in AfroAmerican studies. “And after two and half hours, he never touched the tea or the muffin but always went all the way through the book.” Several jazz musicians played in tribute to Bracey, including the New Africa House Ensemble and bassist-composer Avery Sharpe, a UMass alumnus who has since become worldrenowned for his work. Sharpe played his solo piece, “I Understand,” which invited the audience to clap a steady beat for Sharpe’s fastpaced, concise technique on acoustic bass. “Amherst can be seen as a mecca of African American culture because of the jazz musicians that come through here,” said Bracey as he thanked Sharpe and other artists for their perforsee

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Senator recognizes victory improbable By Lindsey McPherson CQ–Roll Call

Bernie Sanders acknowledged Sunday that he has a “narrow path” to the Democratic nomination, but he plans to take that small opening and continue his presidential campaign. “We’re going to give the people in every state of this country the right to determine who they want to see president of the United States, what kind of agenda they want,” Sanders said on CNN’s “State of Union.” Asked if he has a path to the nomination, Sanders said, “I’m not going to tell you that it’s easy, but I think we do.” Sanders noted that polls show he has a chance to win many of the states that have yet to hold their primaries, including

California. He also cited polls showing that he fares better than Hillary Clinton when matched against Republican front– runner Donald Trump. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders acknowledged that he would have to win big in the remaining primary states. However, he was adamant that he’s not giving up. “We are not writing our obituary,” Sanders said. “We are in this race to California.” C a l i fo r n i a ’ s primary is not until June 7. Next up are primaries in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and Delaware, on Tuesday. Clinton supporters feel that a strong performance on Tuesday could effectively clinch the nomination for the former secretary of state. “I’ve always thought Connecticut wasn’t going to be a runaway, but I feel more confident now than I have in the past

about her chances,” Sen. Christopher S. Murphy said in an interview. “And look, you know, Connecticut looked to be the closest of the five states on Tuesday so you know, a win in Connecticut might be a sweep.” Asked on “This Week” if he would make an enthusiastic case for Clinton if she wins the nomination, Sanders said: “That is totally dependent on what the Clinton platform is and how she responds to the needs of millions of Americans who are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics. “I can’t snap my finger and tell people what to do, “but what I will do is do everything that I can to make sure that somebody like a Donald Trump or some other right–wing Republican does not become president of the United States.” see

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