The Connector - November 6, 2018

Cumnock Marketplace has positive response â–ş Page 3

THE UMASS LOWELL

Serving the Student Body Since 1976

November 6, 2018

America East Championship loss ends remarkable River Hawk season

In This Issue Op Ed: Sin Awareness Day

â–ş Page 2

Jason Ounpraseuth

Is ‘The Staircase’

underrated?

Connector Editor

► Page 5 Men’s basketball

preview

â–ş Page 8

Final River Hawk Scores Team

Score

W. Soccer at UAlbany

L 5-1 8-8-5

Volleyball at Hartford

W 3-2

Overall Record

4-20

M. Soccer vs. UAlbany

W 1-0 10-5-2

M. Hockey at Maine

W 1-0

The UMass Lowell women’s soccer team lost 5-1 against the UAlbany Great Danes in their first America East championship match at Casey Stadium The River Hawks went down early in the game after senior Mariah Williams’ through ball connected with freshman

midfielder Jada Colbert.

Colbert’s shot went past senior goalkeeper Julia Schneider to put the Great Danes up 1-0.

UMass Lowell won a corner kick at the 10-minute mark. Senior Rachel Morrier’s corner went outside of the box leading to a UAlbany counter attack. The River Hawk defense stopped the attack but gave up a free

kick. Schneider made an easy save.

The Great Danes went up 2-0 at the 19-minute mark of the match. Williams provided another assist this time to freshman forward Jasmine Colbert.

Morrier and the River Hawks offense tried to initate counter attacking opportinites but could not connect in the final

4-4-0

Some River Hawk feathers ruffled by language requirement Linda Poe Connector Contributor

The ability to speak a foreign language can be a beneficial skill to have as a young adult going out into the job market. At UMass Lowell, the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS) wants its students to understand how valuable this tool can be for them. By imposing a language requirement, students are exposed to a different language, culture and even perspective of life.

Maria Matz, the department chair of world languages and cultures, said that with two different language tracks to choose from (the world language and the world ready), students are able to tailor how they study a language. If a student is interested in the languages themselves, they would want to take the traditional world language track, in which students take four semesters of the language.

In the world ready track, students take two semesters of the language and three culture classes taught in English. Matz said that this track can really help a student function in a multi-cultural society because they are getting a focus on both the language itself and the culture in whatever language they chose out

Courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics

Rachel Morrier and the River Hawks close out the season with a 5-1 loss.

third. Their best chance came 22 minutes into the match when Morrier’s free kick hit off the cross bar. Freshman defender Dunja Mostarac rebounded the ball and came close to getting the UMass Lowell on the score sheet.

UMass Lowell were outshot 12-1 in the first half. Schneider was forced to made six saves in the first half.

The second half started with back-and-forth possession for each team. The River Hawks attempted multiple long-distance shots in the second half to no avail.

Morrier attempted to get UMass Lowell’s offense on track but came short each time. Her header attempt off a corner kick was punched out by the UAlbany goalkeeper. â–ş See “Women’s Soccer,â€? page 7

‘Red Dead Redemption 2:’ Redeemed itself Aaron Robinson Connector Editor

“Red Dead Redemption 2� was released on Oct. 26 to huge fanfare, as more than seven years had passed since the release of the universally acclaimed “Red Dead Redemption.�

This game, the third in the “Red

Dead� series and a direct prequel to “Red Dead Redemption,� has fixed most of the complaints from its prequel and expanded on the world map and graphics.

The story follows Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and a member of the Van der Linde gang, and also includes the original “Red Dead Courtesy of Rockstar Games

â–ş See “Language,â€? page 6

Sections News.............................3 Campus Life.................. 6 A&E.............................. 4 Sports........................... 8 Red Dead Redemption II was released on Oct. 26. after an eight year wait.

Redemption� protagonist John Marston in the same gang.

During the opening credits and introduction of the plot, much time is dedicated to setting the scene and displaying the climate. While it is incredibly realistic, it does drag on for a little too long.

Following the intro, Morgan is on a horse ride that again takes far too much time before anything of consequence happens, but little details like the speed in which Morgan can traverse through the snow shows how much thought went into the design. While drawn out beginnings are usually a staple in action games, about 12 minutes of real time passes before any commands are needed besides pressing a single button.

Despite the slow beginning, once the game gets started, it moves along pretty quickly. The story is â–ş See “Red Dead,â€? page 4

November 6, 2018

UM ASS L OWELL C ONNECTOR

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OPINIONS & EDITORIALS UMass Lowell students fight back against hate Conor Dawson Connector Editor

On Oct. 30, some people came onto UMass Lowell’s South Campus. This happens all the time, so one might not see this as strange. These people, however, were a little different. They were here for Sin Awareness Day, which, according to their card, is every day. They spoke to students from a stool in front of O’Leary Library.

The link on their card (www.sinawarenessday. com) takes one to a website with banners such as “Evolution is a Lie” and “Want proof that God exists?” This website has comments sections on many pages, with people proclaiming that the website and its program is fueled by hate.

The South Campus students were less than happy with the presence of these lay-men in their quad, preaching about the sin of the students around them. They held bibles, flipping to pages at random and rarely, if ever, quoting Scripture properly. They called out the students, saying that they would “go to hell for their sins” and that it wasn’t too late to convert and be saved. Their cries fell on deaf ears.

Some of their more outrageous claims were along the lines of “I love the gays, and I’m trying to save them from hell,” and “God only created men and women. You don’t get to decide your gender, it isn’t right!” These words in and of themselves may seem ridiculous, but they were hardly the worst of it.

The so-called “preachers” also claimed that white

people were the superior race according to the bible, and asked students to “name one thing that makes rape objectively wrong.” This kind of hate was met by students who peacefully, albeit angrily, stood against them.

Kaitlyn Bleezarde, a sophomore psychology major, summarized the hate that she said she heard from the Sin Awareness Day representatives.

“They said they were here in love, to show us how we could be saved by God’s love,” she said. “But all I saw was hatred and bigotry. These men were telling trans people to their faces that they were abominations, and that’s just disgusting.”

Students of all faiths came together to protest the presence of these hateful people on campus, with some crying out with phrases such as “My God is a loving god” and “God loves gays.” Students came back to campus to stand against these hateful people.

“It was amazing seeing students from [UMass Lowell] come together and sing songs and chants over the religious yelling,” said Bleezarde.

Students also met their serious demeanor with mocking, holding up large signs with phrases such as “Don’t forget the Falcons blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl” and “Ban Fortnite.”

Christian students denounced those on their rickety plastic stool, stating that their religion was not tolerant of the hatred that was being spewed. Those who came to South Campus had views that were not in line with the Christian faith, and students

UMass Lowell is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action, Title IX, H/V, ADA 1990 University. This ad was produced at no cost to the Commonwealth.

were angry because their faith was being misrepresented and its reputation tarnished.

Students have been reaching out to UMass Lowell, and were met with a response from the Administration that stated that while they were “sorry that our community had to experience that today,” there isn’t anything they can do about it, because UMass Lowell is federally funded and on public land. This is most unfortunate, as those who came to preach to the students did so from an altar of hate.

All the UMass Lowell community can do right now is stand with their brothers and sisters and denounce this kind of hate. Stand with your fellow students, because they will be the ones to protect you against this kind of derision, before the administration and others can.

Have something to say?

Feel like you need a platform?

This section is the place for you!

Send all opinions to Taylor_Carito@student.uml.edu Hannah_Manning@student.uml.edu

November 6, 2018

UM ASS L OWELL C ONNECTOR

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NEWS Cumnock Marketplace earns positive feedback from students; mixed from clubs Andrew Sciascia Connector Editor

In previous academic years, North Campus students have found themselves between classes sitting out in their cars, cramped elbow to elbow in hallways outside their lecture halls to do homework or making the lengthy trek back to Fox Dining Commons just to have a bite.

Recognizing a key issue in the lack of common space for students on North Campus, UMass Lowell faculty and administrators set themselves the task of rectifying the situation.

After months of searching and deliberation, they found their inspiration in South Campus’s McGauvran Center and Merrimack Market.

“The vision for Cumnock was not just another dining space… What we wanted to do with Cumnock, essentially, was to create a ‘living room space’ for the students on North Campus similar to the space South Campus students have on the second and third floors of McGauvran,” said Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Larry Siegel.

Despite some pushback from student organizations who made use of the function space provided by Cumnock Hall, university officials set their plan in motion.

The once underutilized function

space has now reopened for student use after several months of renovation courtesy of Aramark to the tune of $5 million.

“In devoting to the project, we took an in-depth look into all the programs held in Cumnock. And over two years there were only a half-dozen large programs held in the space. We just felt it would better serve our students as this ‘North Campus living room’,” said Siegel.

The new layout utilizes the old stage as a raised seating platform and marketplace, complete with bagged snacks, bottled drinks and two counter service meal options. The rest of the room is laid out with tables, chairs and comfortable upholstered booth seating. The space is also equipped with several outlets and a handful of armchairs.

Thus far, North Campus majors love the functionality.

“I think it’s great… There are a substantial number of options here; many more than Southwick. I think they’re utilizing the space much better in here than they have in the past. Honestly, I only ever heard of one event being held in here before this, so I think it’s a good change,” said junior electrical engineering major Brendan Farrell.

This seems to be the consensus on the reopening among the majority of

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Hannah Manning / Connector

The newly opened Cumnock Marketplace caters to hundreds of students.

veteran North Campus students. For them, Cumnock is put to far better use serving any and all students in need of a space throughout their days on North as opposed to lying in wait for student organizations to use the hall as a function space once every couple of weeks.

In fact, the only complaint students have expressed in regard to Cumnock Hall is that the numerous ceiling fans struggling to keep the AC-free space cool make excessive amounts of noise and constantly blow strongly enough to send papers flying from tables.

This minor complaint is not, however, the only one lofted at the Cumnock makeover. The renovations took many of the student organizations that did find the original space useful by surprise. Those students have actively expressed major concerns with the renovation permanently displacing their traditions. One such student is Timi Ogunjobi, president of Men Achieving Leadership, Excellence and Success (M.A.L.E.S.) who held their annual Back to Campus party in the space in previous years.

“It was the place where students could have their biggest events - for free… Those events were things that brought the campus together, events like Cambodian New Year, which gave back to the Lowell community.

“I just worry that with no locations as large and flexible as Cumnock, those events will go away,” said Ogunjobi, a senior mechanical engineering student.

It was mid-Spring 2018 semester when student organizations began to give conflicting reports on just how receptive and flexible they feel UMass Lowell administrators had been in response to their qualms with having large annual events displaced by Cumnock’s transition into the ‘North Campus living room.’

Administrators claim they have fielded the complaints of UMass Lowell’s many student organizations and are working diligently on solutions for spaces and event costs in light of the renovation. Vice Chancel-

lor Siegel cites the university offering up spaces like the Moloney Hall or the Inn & Conference Center Ballroom to student organizations free of charge: even offering to provide free shuttle service for specific events.

The Latin American Student Association (LASA), who hosted their popular annual “Rumba Latina” in Cumnock seemed to appreciate the concessions but feel they did not go far enough in providing an alternative for displaced events. LASA President Elizabeth Antuna said the offer represents a kind gesture, but remains displeased; citing the fact that the university will not budge on Aramark catering any and all ICC events as a result of contract.

“There just isn’t that much wiggle room because of university regulations… The ICC just isn’t an option for us, because we cannot have food donated. We would prefer to have authentic food at our event, and the fact that we would have to have Aramark cater really hinders us using that larger space,” said Antuna.

Unfortunately for student clubs and organizations feeling overall unheard by administration in regard to their displaced events, it appears they will be forced to adjust to the growing pains that come with increased population on campus at a rising nationally recognized university.

Regardless, those very same student organizations are run by strong willed and resourceful students who look forward to facing the challenge of working things out with university higher ups.

“We’ve been given the avenue to talk to administration and to Chancellor Moloney and President Meehan…

I felt like they were willing to listen to us and they ensured us if there were ways they could help us find space for those large cultural events they would help us. We’re just going to have to look forward to working with them on making those improvements,” said Ogunjobi.

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November 6, 2018

November 6, 2018

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ has a lot of redeeming qualities ►Continued from front page amazingly well crafted and has the authentic western feel the game was going for.

Players might feel most frustrated with a lack of a fast-travel system, as crossing the map is so slow and never picks up, even though many events can occur while walking or riding.

Among the additions, dual-wielding weapons and swimming are now options and in game decisions pilot a majority of how the player wants Morgan to appear. Rob Nelson, Co-Studio Head at Rockstar North, said: “We try to give you options within a lot of these missions to choose how you approach it, whether you’ll send your buddies in first or whether you’ll go in first.”

Morgan can choose different dialogue trees with non-playable characters;he can have a simple friendly chat with an individual, threaten them for the player’s own personal interest, or he can kill them and loot the corpse.

Although the game is incredibly realistic, there are times when the realism is too frustrating. Weapon and

item degradation causes important food to rot and guns have to be maintained closely or they will be rendered useless during important times. Characters have to bathe regularly and depending on their diet, gain or lose weight which affects their movement.

an ax above his head, then bring it down in a fluid motion just feels right.

Similarly, each motion a character performs feels right, meaning a lot of time was invested in not only the landscape, but every little motion detail was perfected by the design team.

Courtesy of Rockstar Games

An online multiplayer option is slated for release as a pubic beta in Nov. of 2018.

Each of these things are underused or flat out ignored in most games, and if players wanted to take care of characters, they could just play “Sims” instead.

Even though some tasks are menial, they are impossibly satisfying. Chopping wood brings in minimal useful rewards, but watching Morgan raise

The bountiful amount of side missions is just another great addition to the game. Players that love to play after the main story ends are in for a world of treats. There has to be at least enough side missions to fill up two or three lesser games. Each mission, whether small or large, serious or funny, is a joy to complete.

The climate might be the most aesthetically pleasing aspect of the game.

The map spans snow-covered mountain regions, dense swamps, dramatic oil fields and even a sizeable New Orleans-inspired city. There’s also a secret, sprawling area players would love to travel through.

The game’s soundtrack is comprehensive and composer Woody Jackson did a sensational job creating unique sounds for every scenario Morgan finds himself in. The music can dovetail between shredding player’s nerves during a terrifying cave assault involving cannibals to perking up a scene where Morgan and his pals celebrate some successful missions by downing all the whiskey.

“Red Dead Redemption 2” offers a sharp script, genuinely creative gameplay and dialogue, amazing tech and one of the best structured plots in a video game in quite some time. Besides the minor tedious gameplay mechanics, this game has the possibility of being named the best game of the year.

Final Grade: A-

‘Super Mario Sunshine:’ Hide in the shade Aaron Robinson Connector Editor

“Super Mario Sunshine” was released on the GameCube in 2002 and has become a favorite for Mario fans over the years. For a video game to be considered great, the gameplay has to be nearly flawless and fun, the music superb, the graphics to be excellent and for the plot to be intricate. “Super Mario Sunshine” does not excel in any of these categories.

The game follows Mario, Princess Peach and the Toadstools to Isle Delfino, a tropical island paradise for the gang to take a much needed vacation.

While there, a villain resembling Mario vandalizes the island with graffiti and the natives sentence the real Mario to clean the entire island before he or his friends are allowed to leave.

Mario encounters FLUDD, a robotic water machine that can communicate with Mario, helps him clean the island, helps him reach new places and defeat many enemies. Each time FLUDD washes away graffiti, the Shine Sprites return to the center of the island to bring sunshine to Isle Delfino. Mario must collect the Shine Sprites in order for the island to return to form.

The gameplay mechanics are pretty clunky; the close-up camera that Mario uses to view areas from a POV perspective zooms in and out and there are some areas where Mario cannot use that camera at all. The standard Mario mechanics are fine, pressing “A” performs jumps and pressing “R” activates FLUDD. Nintendo took no real chances to utilize the GameCube’s multi-button controller as the d-pad and joystick perform the same actions and there is no use for the “z” button at all.

Movement is a pain as well. Mario moves incredibly fast which makes precise platforming difficult, and his multiple jumps make easy jumps harder than they should be.

The level designs are a treat in this game. Similar to “Super Mario 64,” there are many areas for Mario to travel through, and since each area has eight levels, a different part of the area is highlighted each time and a specific path is needed to beat the levels. A water level like Noki Bay has a great fisherman-esque vibe, and the beach areas of Gelato Beach and Sirena Beach exhibit a cool, surfer friendly feel. Each area lets players know exactly what they are getting into when they enter the level.

The levels the player gets to play in are incredibly unique and the boss fights are a lot of fun. Petey Piranha, Gooper Blooper and Bowser himself are just some of the bosses Mario gets to fight and finish in Courtesy of Nintendo

The game sold 400,000 copies in Japan within 4 days.

ways that have not been seen in any previous Mario games. Props to the developers for thinking of different ways to provide combat.

The gameplay variety in the levels are beyond atrocious, though. The areas may have interesting premises for a few levels, but not all levels. Each area has a “collect the red coins” level, a “chase the imposter Mario” level, a “platforming level with no FLUDD” and a “clean up the paint level”

somewhere sprinkled in. Each time Mario enters a world, these levels are expected and are not that fun to complete when players know what is coming in half of the levels before they have even played them.

Why are there so many enemies in this game? It is a Mario game, but the enemies feel secondary.

Mario can beat the whole game without defeating an enemy that is not the boss because enemies are so avoidable. There is little to no reason to engage in combat with anything as the rewards do not match the time put forward in beating them.

Speaking of the whole game, Mario can beat the game without actually cleaning the whole island or collecting all of Isle Delfino’s Shine Sprites. In fact, less than half of the 120 Shine Sprites can bring a player to the end credits. Why reward players for beating the game when half of the game can still be played? Nintendo has done this before in its games, but unless players used glitches in a game like “Super Mario 64,” they still had to collect at least twothirds of the 120 stars. Super Mario Sunshine had eight years to address that issue and made it much easier to beat the game instead of increasing the difficulty.

The soundtrack to the game is not anything spectacular, but nothing felt too bland or out of place.

The original Mario theme is remixed a few times in certain levels and that was pretty cool, but not one area had a great sound to it.

Super Mario Sunshine is an overrated game that coasts by because it was “Super Mario 64” on the newest console. The soundtrack was weak, the gameplay mechanics were disjointed and the variety of the levels was disappointing. If it was not for the cool boss fights and amazing area displays, this game should be considered to be one of the worst in the Mario franchise. It is time for “Super Mario Sunshine” to retreat to the shadows and stay there.

Final Grade: C-

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ‘Haunted:’ weak for ghost shows and for Netflix Owen Johnson Connector Editor

Netflix has been sinking its teeth into every genre out there to create their own original content. With “The Haunted,” the streaming service has now reached the true-story paranormal documentary series genre, and it is obvious Netflix could not care less about it.

Like most paranormal shows, “The Haunted” brings on a new person every episode to detail their experience with a supernatural event. Alongside this victim of paranormal activity reciting the haunted events that happened to them, a recreation of said events takes place for the audience to view.

The one thing that “The Haunted” does which is a little interesting is that they bring on the person’s friends and family to listen as the person tells their story. They then either corroborate the claims, ask clarifying questions or act as emotional support for the person. It is a good touch compared to other shows that just have the singular person and a visual recreation for the audience to view, but not enough is done with it. Most of the time, the people who are brought on just stare at the person and occasionally nod along and do not contribute anything extra, except for the ex-husband in the sixth episode.

The show has an assortment of topics that are discussed on the show.

Alongside paranormal stories about ghosts and demons, the second episode deals with two sisters’ father’s egregious and horrific actions and the fifth episode deals with an alien abduction. By doing this, the show is

The sound design is low quality, with the show utilizing stock sounds that range from cliché to comically awful. In terms of cliché sound effects, the most generic and overused noises are used when the ghosts and demons are around. If one has seen any horror film from the past ten

Courtesy of Netflix

“Haunted” is the second Netflix original with producer Howard Owens attached to it.

trying to have more variety to it, but it does not work. These two episodes are the least interesting ones of the six, and they feel like they are double their run time.

It is apparent from the quality of the show that Netflix probably does not have much hope for it, either. Based on the quality of the sound, lighting and sets, it looks like barely any money was put into the show. All these aforementioned aspects are just generically atrocious.

years, they have definitely heard these noises somewhere before. An example of the comically awful sound effects that the show uses comes about in the sixth episode, where a character is searching their house with a gun, and it sounds like a toy gun when the person cocks it.

The show’s lighting when it does the recreational segments is ugly and look like no effort was put into it. When any attempt at anything interesting is done with the lighting, it all looks like

it was done by an editing software that a teenager who was just getting into filmmaking would be given. This is a show from a major streaming service that has produced countless high-quality programs, so this says a lot about how Netflix views this program.

The sets during the recreations of the hauntings and supernatural events all look like the minimal quality was put into them. The furnishing of the sets is bare minimum to establish what a room is supposed to be, and the sets are all underpopulated. For example, a bedroom set will have a bed and a nightstand and then nothing else more beyond that. There are no personal belongings or anything like that to help create the scene. In terms of under population of the scenes, the sixth episode is another good example of this. One scene takes place in a military barrack, yet the haunted individual is the only person in the room in the middle of the night.

Netflix’s “The Haunted” is a program that the streaming service seems to not care about, which is evident by the low quality and lack of money that was obviously given to it. So, if the streaming service is unwilling to put money or effort into it, why should anyone put their time into watching it?

Final Grade: C-

Underrated Classics: ‘The Staircase’ is an amazing journey Owen Johnson Connector Editor

In the past few years, Netflix has been bringing the genre of true crime documentaries such as “Making a Murderer” and “The Keepers” to the forefront of people’s attention. Netflix did this once again with their best one to date, which is an expansion of “The Staircase” true crime documentary from French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.

On the night of Dec. 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead in her home at the bottom of a staircase. As police investigated the crime, her husband Michael Peterson becomes the prime suspect in her death.

What separates “The Staircase” from most documentaries and helps it stand out is that it is filmed in real time.

While there are clips scattered about of interviews with prominent people in the case, such as the prosecutors and the Peterson children, a lot of the series is the documentary crew filming Michael Peter-

son and his legal team working on their defense.

This style of documentary film work is interesting because not only does the audience learn about the individual and the event in question, but they also get the opportunity to form some sort of attachment with the individual.

In the 13-part series that follows Peterson from the night of his wife’s death to his eventual Alford Plea, the audience gets to know Peterson as well as one can know someone on a screen.

By doing this, the audience not only gets to know Peterson, but they are able to get emotionally invested in his plight to prove his innocence.

That element, mixed with everything that is being shown being the literal events playing out and not a dramatic recreation, makes the series that much more poignant and memorable.

As the documentary crew is following Peterson around, the series is biased in his favor. The documentary rarely shows what the prosecution

might have said or done to counter one of Peterson and his defense team’s points, and there are even a few times where the series seems to ignore the prosecutor’s point

ases are taken into account it still succeeds at that goal.

The series is essentially separated into three parts, which are the three-documentary series that make up this 13-ep-

worked on, deals with a freed Peterson going through the last act of his court dealings while trying to bring closure to everything.

While all three of these parts are great in their own Courtesy of Canal+ and Netflix individual ways, the second part of the series does lag a bit. The first part of the series shows the audience what happened during the case, who Michael Peterson is and details all the intriguing twists and turns that took place during the trial. The third part helps to wrap up the series in a superb and bitter-sweet way.

The second part, while important, has less to offer than the other two parts.

A true crime documentary “The Staircase” editor Sophie Brunet had a 15-year relationship series runs the risk of being with Michael Peterson, which lasted from 2002 until 2017. interchangeable with other because it would be hard to isode series. The first part members of that genre due to refute. These times are mini- deals with Peterson’s initial the topic material. “The Stairmal, and the bias does make trial after the police charge case” not only avoids being sense since the crew is primar- him with the murder of his that interchangeable series, ily following Peterson around, wife. The second part of the but it also makes sure that so it is not too big of an issue. series deals with the retrial it will never become interThe documentary seems to as new evidence is revealed changeable through its style be trying to convince the au- which could help to vindi- and execution. dience that Peterson is inno- cate Peterson. The third part, cent, and even when these bi- which is the part that Netflix Final Grade: A

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November 6, 2018

CAMPUS LIFE

Students split on language requirement QUOTH THE RIVERHAWKS ►Continued from front page

of the eight offered by the university. The university offers Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian.

Out of all the colleges that makes up UMass .

Lowell, FAHSS is the only one that has a language requirement, but not all the departments adhere to it. The departments of economics, music, and art and design do not require a language, and some concentrations in the criminal justice major have the choice between taking a language and taking a computer skills track.

For the departments in the FAHSS that do require a language, Matz says that many of the students think the requirement is a negative thing because they are worried about being bad at it. .“No one is bad at languages,” Matz said. “We just don’t see the benefits and mentally we put a block.”

She said that there are many benefits that can be taken out of learning a language beyond just proficiency itself. Critical thinking and even math skills are some of many, she said. .Another major part of teaching languages is putting focus into the cultural component. “The idea of the language requirement is to make students aware of other cultures, to learn another language, and to be that idea of a global citizen,” she said. .Italian studies lecturer Dr. Fabiana Viglione believes that learning a language, along with its culture, can be very beneficial. “It’s not just that when you learn the language, you learn just the language,” Viglione said. “You learn about another culture and different literatures. You basically learn about dif-

ferent ways of looking at the world. Language is a tool that connects you to another reality.” .Viglione said that languages can also help a student discover more about themselves. “We are offering this opportunity to go deeper into discovering your identity,” she said. “That is the whole point of studying humanities, to understand better who we are as human beings.”

Having discovered her own identity as a hopeful future archeologist, Meagan Timmins, a dual major in history and world languages, said she believes studying a language can be beneficial for students because it opens up a lot of opportunities overseas or even working in an environment where English may not be its main language. “In reality, a lot of companies value having a language background, especially international companies, because you never know who is going to walk through the door and come visit or you may be asked to go somewhere,” she said.

Matz, Viglione and Timmins all had different . ways of seeing the importance of taking a language, but they all said that students sometimes think that there should not be a language requirement, to which they disagree. They encourage students to see the requirement as an opportunity to build on different skills that can be beneficial to their future selves or career. .“The language requirement shouldn’t be seen as something that is forcing us to be learning a language,” Matz said. “It could be a lot of fun. It’s a matter of changing that mentality.”

Are you going to Fight Club?

Hey, say ‘brunch’ in a British Accent.

– Dugan Hall Lobby

– Southwick Food Court

Stalin would not be happy.

Student 1: Yeah, a kid’s head came off.

Student 2: Did he die though?

– Coburn Hall

Duuddde…don’t stick you finger in your belly button and smell it!

– Olsen Hall Lab

Every time that alarm goes off I wake up thinking we’re getting nuked and my roommate is just like, “Bet”

– South Dining Hall

Put those fuzzy Handcuffs to good use…

– The P.O.D.

Anything you’ve heard on campus?

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UM ASS L OWELL C ONNECTOR

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November 6, 2018

SPORTS Men’s basketball has high hopes for new season Marcos Aguilar Connector Staff

The UMass Lowell men’s basketball team will be starting a new chapter this season in their sixth year in division I history with senior captains Ryan Jones and Joshua Gantz leading the way. The River Hawks will be starting new this year having two 1,000-point players in Jahad Thomas and Matt Har-

“The university understands it’ll take time to grow,” Duquette said. “But I was convinced they wanted to win here. And I was convinced we could win here.”

This past year the River Hawks had their first taste of postseason play tying a program record of 12 wins and qualified for the conference tournament. The River Hawks led but eventually fell to Courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics

Ryan Jones and Joshua Gantz will captain a young core to potential success this year.

ris both graduate this past season.

“It’s such a great and different group this year. We are so young so I’m hesitant to put a number for wins, but we’ve outperformed people’s expectations every year. We finish 5th or 6th in the league every time, yet we’ve been picked last almost every year,” said head coach Pat Duquette.

Coach Duquette is entering his 6th year as the program’s head coach. Duquette has overseen the entirety of the transition from Division II to Division I.

the NCAA tournament Cinderella story of UMBC in the America East conference playoffs. Now with their senior year ahead of them, the captains look back.

“Your focus just changes as you get older. As a freshman you might be fighting for your spot and proving you belong, but now we want to win,” said Gantz. “For me it’s rebounding. I want to improve on both the defensive and offensive glass. Plus, I want to improve my field goal percentage.”

Jones also wants to make the most out of his se-

nior year as well.

“When you come in you try to learn from the guys who are already here. I think I’ve been put into a good position to succeed,” said Jones. “Taking away a little form each one of them and improving my game. Consistency is where I want to improve.

I’ve had a lot of ups and downs my first few years.”

Both players always bring it back to the team.

“For us and the team, the ultimate goal is to win the America East. Both the regular season and the tournament,” said Gantz.

The River Hawks want to improve on their 12-18 record from last year that had them finishing sixth in the conference. This year, the team consists of a very young core with only three seniors and two juniors while also adding seven freshmen to the group and filling out the team with second year players.

Both the coach and captains agree on the biggest area of improvement for the upcoming 2018-2019 regular season: defense.

“Defense is always being an area we have emphasized,” said coach Duquette. “We’ve been very good these past few years on offense, but our defense is definitely an area want see growth in.”

Duquette will try to help the River Hawks improve on their defense but also build on an already efficient River Hawk offense. As a team that consistently finishes in the top tier of offense statistics in the America East conference, they will look to once again reach postseason play with excellent ball movement and unselfish scoring.

“We play our best when we move the ball and play more freely,” said Gantz. “When we don’t care who shoots, as long as we’re getting good looks, that’s when we play our type of basketball.”

The UMass Lowell men’s basketball team will begin their regular season away against the UMass Amherst Minutemen at Mullins Center Tuesday, Nov. 6 viewable on NESN. The River Hawks will have their season opener on Nov. 10 against Wagner at the Costello Athletic Center.

The student aspect of student-athlete life at UMass Lowell Melany Sheldon Connector Contributor

We are used to the idea about student-athletes at UMass Lowell: their athletic performances and how they represent our school when they wear the UMass Lowell River Hawks jersey. What is not really on the news as often is the everyday struggle of these athletes who are students just like everyone else.

A student-athlete’s life includes a very packed schedule that must be well organized for both the student and the athlete to be successful.

Christina Rizzi, a junior transfer for the softball team, acknowledges that she would like to study in the mornings before her classes, but she usually has a lifting or conditioning practice at 6 a.m. Then there is a longer practice on the softball field that keeps them busy for the rest of the morning.

After that, it’s time for class, and on the busiest day, she has a lab class and a night class. The time remaining is for studying and homework.

Rizzi would like to get enough hours of sleep, but when she needs to study at night and then go to practice that early in the morning, she says “It feels like I never actually went to sleep.”

Lara Ansaldi is a freshman from Argentina for the field hockey team, and she also has to deal with missing classes because of the season.

Her team doesn’t practice too early in the morning, but she still doesn’t get a lot of sleep. She would like to do her school work in the afternoons, but she doesn’t get back to her room before 6 p.m. because of practice. The time left to do homework is at night.

When she has a lot of work to do, Ansaldi goes to sleep very late, but sometimes she prefers to wake up very early in the morning to get it done.

Not sleeping many hours makes her feel very tired during the day and at practice. In fact, she says it is very hard for her to do well at practice when she sleeps four hours a night or less.

To go through all these difficulties, student-athletes are helped by the

school’s Athletic Department. Their grades and success in class are among the priorities of all the coaching staff.

Softball head coach Danielle Henderson points out that the importance of good grades from her athletes also reflects on their commitment to the sport. She believes that if the athletes don’t put effwort in their classes or manage their time wisely, their laziness will show on the field.

The Athletic Department coordinates and helps the students. Lauren Trapasso is an Academic Athletic Coordinator and she works with four teams on campus. She has an important role in the athlete’s college life.

Regularly, she checks on their academic situation and helps them get the best results they can. The athletic advisor, for example, makes sure that the students who are required to do a certain number of hours of study hall get that done throughout every week. Both students and the department itself think that study hall is very useful and important.

Rizzi says, “Study hall limits distractions, and it helps priorities what you need to get done first; sometimes, I would just take a nap if I was in my room, but at study hall I have no choice.”

Trapasso strongly believes in the effectiveness of study hall for anybody adjusting to UMass Lowell.

She says, “It sets the expectations that the athletic department has, and it helps the student-athletes get some routine.”

She knows all students struggle somehow at the beginning, so she likes to be there for the athletes and teach them how to maximize the time they have. She considers her help to be very important at the beginning of the athlete’s new college life because she knows that once they understand and learn how to manage their time, everything can only get easier.

Being a student-athlete is not just fun and travel, it is a lot of struggle and hard work, but that is what makes it a totally satisfying path. Such a challenge helps these young athletes grow in the everyday life and through all the difficulties.

November 6, 2018

UM ASS L OWELL C ONNECTOR

Page 8

SPORTS

UMass Lowell loses championship game to UAlbany

U P C OM I N G

River Hawk Games

► continued from front page

ious shots from outside of the box trying to catch The Great Danes went up 3-0 15 minutes into the UAlbany keeper off of her line. However, each the second half. Jasmine Colbert scored her sec- of her shots went over the goal.

At the 75-minute mark, freshman midfielder Lily ond goal of the match assisted by senior defender Carolina Kopp and redshirt sophomore midfielder Fabian scored the first goal for UMass Lowell. The goal came off a throw in from Rachel Morrier to Meghan Cavanaugh.

Sophomore defender Abigail Drezek tried to get a Veronica Morrier. Morrier, with her back from the few quick goals for the River Hawks attempting var- goal, passed to Fabian who took a quick shot that beat the goalkeeper for the goal.

The Great Danes quickly responded four minutes later with a goal from Cavanaugh assisted by Colbert putting UAlbany ahead 4-1.

UMass Lowell looked for a quick response, but their shots just went outside of the box.

UAlbany increased their lead to 5-1 as a low shot from freshman forward Christinia Cernuto went past Schneider. Cernuto’s goal was assited by Cavanaugh and Jada Corbert.

Fabian and Veronica Morrier combined again in the River Hawks’ last effort to put another goal on the score sheet. However, Fabian’s shot just went wide of the net.

UMass Lowell’s historic postseason run ends in a 5-1 defeat.

Courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics Julia Schneider, Rachel Morrier and Lily Fabian The River Hawks’ historic postseason run ended in a earned All-Tournament honors. disappointing loss on Sunday.

Tuesday, Nov. 6

7 pm

WBB vs Bryant

Wednesday Nov, 7

7 pm

MSOC at UNH

Friday, Nov, 9

7 pm

WBB vs Saint Peter’s

Friday, Nov. 9

7:15 pm

Saturday, Nov. 10

1 pm

Saturday, Nov. 10

7 pm

MICE vs. UNH MBB vs. Wagner MICE at Northeastern

For more sports information and full game schedules visit goriverhawks.com Bradel

Forward sports pitches to

Jason_Ounpraseuth@ student.uml.edu

“Come January... They’ll see it:”A time for change and surprise for UMass Lowell women’s basketball Jason Ounpraseuth Connector Editor

Entering their sixth year in Division I, the women’s basketball team will be experiencing substantial changes this year. The program hired it’s eighth head coach in its history in Tom Gar-

cess, I tried to help the team understand that the past doesn’t really exist for us.”

The team will try to fill in the void that Kayla Gibbs held for the team last year. Gibbs graduated having finished as the programs all-time leader in field goal percentage (.583), seventh Courtesy of UMass Lowell Athletics

The River Hawks will look to improve under a new coach and surpass expectations.

rick. Garrick is entrusted to improve upon the team’s first Division I postseason appearance and their 4-28 record. However, Garrick says that he wants to move forward with a clean slate for the program.

“We all start anew together. Nothing’s being held over from the past,” said Garrick. “After my interview pro-

highest scorer (1,222), sixth highest rebounder (797) and third highest in assists (135). For graduate student guard Brianna Rudolph, a team-oriented style is what she says she is most excited for.

“This year it’s a team focus. We’re just gonna have to pull from other people. While it is a big loss, we do

have a solid team,” said Rudolph.

Rudolph and graduate student forward Katherine Smith say that the team’s focus and preparation will help guide the team forward into the season. Smith also says that it will be up to the upperclassman to help the more inexperienced players to get them up to speed and to the level of play that is expected of the team.

They also say that the coaching staff has high expectations for the team as well.

“Coach Garrick and the coaching staff are pulling the best from us day in and day out, and their expectation doesn’t drop when we’re rising to the occasion,” said Rudolph.

Smith also says that the coaching staff ’s confidence combined with their preparation will produce positive results.

“I think they have the upmost confidence in us. They’ve told us that since day one,” said Smith. “They think we’re a solid team, and if we do the right things and listen to them and put the work in, I think good things can happen for this team.”

The America East preseason rankings have UMass Lowell at the bottom of their rankings at number nine.

“They can have us as last. That’s gonna be alright. We’re not the same team. We’re working hard, and we’re gonna surprise a lot of people,” said Rudolph.

Her teammate, Smith, says that the team’s hard work and preparation since July will shine through especial-

ly in America East play.

“Come January February, they’ll see it,” said Smith.

Smith says that she is excited to play games and have the team focus their energy on new faces as opposed to each other during practice. The team will begin their season on Tuesday, Nov. 6 against Bryant at the Tsongas Center. Rudolph is also excited for games to start and to show off the results of the team’s practices and scrimmages over the past few months.

“I think this year we’re gonna surprise a lot of people. We’re not rebuilding anything. We have a solid base here. The biggest goal for us to is to go in day in and day out night in night out and put our best foot forward.”

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