SGA Presidential race spotlight: Andre DiFilippo
THE UMASS LOWELL
Serving the Student Body Since 1976
March 27, 2018
Shuttle driver allegedly called racial slurs; Student punched in his defense
In This Issue English professor publishes book about young mothers
Taylor Carito Chris Romano
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Connector Staff
Musician on the UMass Lowell soccer team
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Online Exclusive: “Jessica Jones� review
Final River Hawk Scores Team
Score
Overall Record
Baseball vs. UAlbany
W 1-0
9-11
Softball vs. Sacred Heart
L 4-1 5-15
Women’s Lacrosse vs. Stony Brook L 20-7 0-3 Men’s Lacrosse vs. UAlbany
L 6-13
4-5
March Madness: First and second round recap Matt Kaiser Connector Staff
This year’s March Madness NCAA tournament has been filled with highlights and surprises in every match. The first round was packed with memorable games, crushing victories and unforgettable upsets. The second round featured some great action as well with a few interesting matchups and more than one surprising upset. In the first round, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers became the first ever 16th-seeded team to defeat the number one seed. Their opponents, the University of Virginia Cavaliers, had a regular season record of 31-2 and no one saw this upset coming. The Retrievers won in spectacular fashion with a score of 74-54 with their senior guard Jairus Lyles leading the team with 28 points. Unfortunately, UMBC lost immediately in the next round to Kansas State 50-43, and their Cinderella story was cut short. Another interesting victory in the first round was the 11th seed of the Midwest, the Syracuse University Orange defeating the sixth-seeded Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs. Syracuse is a team to keep an eye on, since they pulled off surprising victories in both the first and second round. In their first matchup against TCU, they clung on to victory with a
Shuttle driver Daniel Denis Prophete was working the yellow line night shift, along with his co-driver and other passengers when a group of students became belligerent. This resulted in two abrupt stops on the shuttle between the downtown and East Campus stops and police involvement. On the night of Feb. 24, Prophete and his co-driver were victims of and witnesses to an investigation involving a group of six or eight allegedly drunk students saying racial slurs and using vulgar language directed at Prophete. A student was also physically assaulted
Taylor Carito/Connector
The UMass Lowell shuttles operate from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on most weekends.
by the accused group. Christine Gillette, the director of media relations for UMass Lowell, released a statement saying, “The university vehemently opposes any behavior that is contrary
to our efforts to ensure an inclusive campus community for all. A thorough investigation is being conducted into this report to determine the facts and appropriate action will be taken in response to
â–ş See “Shuttle,â€? page 3
Tomb Raider: Critics rage but viewers rave Owen Johnson Connector Editor
It would have been impossible even a month ago to imagine that a movie based on video game would be one of the better straight up action flicks to be released in recent years, but lo and behold the refreshing and fun “Tomb Raider.� After coming across clues that could help explain the disappearance of her father, Lara Croft (Alicia
Vikander) gets swept up into a dangerous adventure when she washes ashore an island where a mercenary named Vogel (Walton Goggins) is searching for the artifact her father disappeared searching for. “Tomb Raider� is an action film akin to adventure serials like the “Indiana Jones� movies or to the action movies of the 80s that starred action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Syl-
â–ş See “March Madness,â€? page 7
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News.............................3 Campus Life..................6 A&E.............................. 4 Sports........................... 8
any violations of the law or the student conduct code.� That night, Prophete was driving his shuttle along with a co-driver when he pulled up to the
Courtesy of geekculture.co
Atlanta Robbin’ season premiered on March 1.
Courtesy of straightfromthea.com
vester Stallone, but “Tomb Raiderâ€? manages to be a refreshing take on all of those movies by going a different route with it. “Tomb Raiderâ€? is essentially Lara Croft’s original story as an action hero, and it works well like that. Lara Croft is not just a good action hero, but she is a well-developed character as well. The origin story helps to give her motivation and character traits in an organic way, and she is ultimately a character that the audience would want to root for because they like her, not just because the plot makes it so they have to. It also gives her more humanity than some other action characters do, as the audience gets to witness things like her first kill and how it affects her. A big part of Croft’s success as a character is Vikander’s performance. It seemed weird that an actress who had won an Academy Award a few years back would be appearing in a movie based â–ş See “Tomb Raider,â€? page 4
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March 27, 2018
NEWS
English professor publishes new book on shaming young mothers Jess Kergo
Courtesy of Katharine Webster/University Relations
Connector Staff
Assistant Professor of English Jenna Vinson has published a decade’s worth of research work in her new book “Embodying the Problem: The Persuasive Power of the Teen Mother.” The book examines the rhetoric that society uses to discuss teenage mothers and the rhetorical strategies these young mothers use to fight the stigma they face for having children at a young age. “The term teenage pregnancy wasn’t used until the 1970s," said Vinson. She says Planned Parenthood’s use of the phrase to persuade the government of the need for contraception. “It was helpful, but it took a pathologizing view of young mothers and now we think it’s a problem. Once you control for the variables of a mother’s pregnancy, it doesn’t matter when she gets pregnant," said Vinson. The book addresses an array of topics including race, poverty and reproductive justice, and the idea that women should be seen as valid reproductive beings without regard to their age or current life situation. Vinson says she analyzes the root issues of society’s use of teen mothers as a scapegoat for other problems. “It continues this narrative that we can solve major social problems by controlling women,” said Vinson. She says that the role this notion plays on a larger scale, and said, “It trains the public to continually scrutinize the sexual activity of women." Driven in part by personal experience, Vinson elaborates upon the stigma she faced as a pregnant teenager in high school. “I have memories that my body seemed to communicate a message to people," said Vinson. She reminisces about the rude comments she would receive from people in her classes and assumptions made by faculty members at her school. The idea to question the socially acceptable standard of shaming young mothers came about when Vinson herself was assigned a “social witness essay” during her undergraduate studies. She was prompted to write about a personally witnessed political issue when she started to examine the stigmatizing of young mothers. “I forgot that I was considered a social issue," said Vinson. Both hurt and inspired by her own research, she continued to write about the issue while studying feminist rhetoric in graduate school. Vinson studied the ways other women had written about the issue, ultimately using it as her dissertation and continuing her reGeneral: The UMass Lowell Connector is a non-profit student public forum serving the University of Massachusetts Lowell community. The paper is published weekly and distributed to the university community every Tuesday. Business hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please be aware that members of the University community are entitled to free newspapers. Please take one! All UMass Lowell students, regardless of major, are invited to join the Connector staff. Interested students should contact an editor or manager listed above, or visit the Connector Office in University Crossing 241. Advertising: The UMass Lowell Connector advertisements reach an estimated 16,000 UMass Lowell students--their friends and families. To tap this group of
Dr. Jenna Vinson published “Embodying the Problem” to explore the stigma against young mothers and teen pregnancy.
search ever since. Vinson says that although the book “very much derived from [her] personal experience,” she also practices “intersectional consciousness” throughout her writing. “Our experience is an intersection of the things that make us who we are," said Vinson. She notes that the book is not solely her personal experiences, but a research-based analysis that includes an array of different stories. In the book, Vinson also studies Title IX violations made by schools toward pregnant students. “Are we sure that mothers drop out because they are pregnant? Or are they pushed out? We tell teenagers that if you get pregnant young and you struggle, it’s because you got preg-
nant young and its very misleading,” said Vinson. The book challenges the idea that shaming young mothers is an alternative to fixing the way they are treated. In addition, it also focuses on what it is like to embody a problem. Vinson coins the phrase “Embodied Exigence,” the rhetorical concept that one who represents an issue or subject is the one who should be speaking out about said it. “Listen to them, not what people have to say about them,” said Vinson. Vinson’s book analyzes how women can fight back in a rhetorically effective way. “Young women can use an ethos appeal as young mothers to change minds,” said Vinson. She has used teenage parent advoca-
cy campaigns like “No Teen Shame” to better understand how young mothers are challenging the stigmas they face. Professor Vinson advises students and emerging writers who aspire to challenge prejudice through writing that “language is powerful” and to take the time to self-reflect on why it is they want to write about the issue. She explained how throughout her research, she was often angered by the anecdotes she heard and used her an-
“It continues this narrative that we can solve major social problems by controlling women” ger as motivation. “I would get really mad and it would help me stay on task," said Vinson. As a faculty member at UMass Lowell, Vinson says she has developed a sense of what she feels could be done for student-parents on campus. “We have parenting on campus but it’s kind of in the dark," said Vinson. The professor suggests a resource page on the university’s website that directs students to nearby daycares, information on class policy regarding children and designated lactation spaces on campus. Vinson continues working with the issue as a co-advisor for the UMass Lowell Parenting Club and by running workshops to help people who work with young mothers.
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March 27, 2018
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NEWS MA Transgender Referendum on the ballot this November Jack McShane Connector Contributor
Massachusetts residents will vote this November on whether to repeal a 2016 law prohibiting discrimination in public places based on gender identity. As news of congressional gridlock, executive scandals, and foreign espionage dominates the minds of many Americans, opinions on relatively small-scale events like this can be pushed to the wayside. The question stands: are people within the queer community troubled by the upcoming vote? “I am both worried and not worried,” said Steph Giammichele, president of the UMass Lowell Pride Alliance, and a self-identifying trans person. Worried, Giammichele explained, because it perpetuates “the mentality that trans women are considered ‘men in dresses’ and that they’re predatory,” a reference to the fear felt by some opponents of trans rights that transsexual people, particularly women, may molest others if they are granted access to public bathrooms. “I am offended that people think that it’s an issue because there is no need to be this paranoid for an issue that doesn’t happen,” stated Giammichele Current Massachusetts law holds that private places of public accommodation, such as bars, restaurants, hotels and stores are prohibited from discriminating against a person based on their gender identity. The law came into place as the result of a 2016 vote, but Keep MA Safe, an opposition group, obtained the needed signatures that same year to place a repeal on the ballot in 2018. “I’m sad that this is a question in 2018,” said Amy Liss, associate director of student activities and leadership and program advisor for the Pride Alliance. Liss agreed that the vote has its roots in an “inaccurate and completely wrong fear” of trans people using public spaces. The use of public spaces, especially bathrooms, is about “doing business and moving on to live your life,” she said. “Why would it have to be any more complicated than that?” Many of those asked about the bill expressed concern that not enough people were aware of the up-
Courtesy of Mike Deehan / WGBH News
Keep MA Safe, a ballot campaign organization, obtained the needed signatures to place the repeal of the transgender bathroom bill on the 2018 ballot.
coming vote. Winter Teller, a marketing major, said it was troubling that “I didn’t even know about it, and I consider myself to not be totally within the gender binary.” Giammichele expressed a similar sentiment. “If it affects me personally and I didn’t even know about it,” then overall awareness is too low, Giammichele said. But Giammichele was doubtful that the veto would pass. “It seems like there’s a lot more people willing to help promote acceptance.” Ballotpedia reports that those in favor of repealing the law have raised $104,650 in campaign funds as of Feb. 17. Organizations in favor of keeping the law in place, such as Freedom for All Massachusetts and the American Civil Liberties Union, have raised $458,616. Teller was more uncertain in his response, unsure that the veto would pass or fail, but he was sure that, if the repeal was passed, it would “set a precedent of normalizing discrimination against queer people
in general.” Some may be surprised that such a debate persists in the Commonwealth. Massachusetts has long been numbered among the leaders in queer rights since same-sex marriage was legalized in 2004, a first for the entire nation. But this step, while a landmark for the gay community, may not have been entirely representative of the state of LGBTQ politics in the Commonwealth. Liss agreed that “[m]arriage equality made things seem better than they are.” She also expressed frustration with what she described as the swinging pendulum of rights that she felt many in the queer community face. For trans people, she empathized, it must be “scary to think, ‘Alright, well, I’m legally protected today, but tomorrow I’m not.’” Liss claimed the desire to repeal the law amounted to being told “you do not have a right to exist in your human state in a public place.” “How would you feel?”
Drunk students accused of using racial slurs and punching student ► Continued from front page
to the downtown stop to pick up students who had been presumably been at the bars and restaurants in the surrounding area. “We had a pick up downtown because somebody called it in. As I got to the downtown stop, there was this kid, about 5-feet-7-inches. He was smoking with his friends and he was calling his friends onto the shuttle,” Prophete said. “Some of them had IDs, some of them didn’t …I let them on because I knew some of them weren’t in their right minds.” Just a few blocks from where Prophete picked up the students, he said he began to smell cigarette smoke. He said to himself, “That shouldn’t smell so strong.” He said his first reaction was to stop the shuttle to address and resolve the situation. Prophete told the students to get off the shuttle. They refused, trying to guilt Prophete, who said the group of students claimed they would get mugged if they were left on the side street. The shuttle had not left the downtown area yet and was stopped on John Street, which is located near
Lowell High School. He also instructed the co-driver to call the UMass Lowell Police Department. “I could already feel that it was going to be an issue,” Prophete said. The police arranged to meet Prophete on East Campus and handle the situation there, but matters only got worse once the shuttle continued on from John St., he said. Prophete drove slowly once he left the location to ensure that he would not beat the police to the East Campus stop. He wanted to give the police time to get there so these students would be reprimanded and not leave the shuttle. This apparently agitated the group of allegedly drunk students. Prophete said he heard what he referred to as the “n-word” directed at him from the person behind him. He later discovered that the unacceptable language was originating from others toward the back from the same group of students who smoked cigarettes. The student behind him was defending the shuttle driver, telling the group in the back to stop using the obscene language. “The person behind me said
the word, and I just thought ‘yeah I can’t do this anymore,’” Prophete said. He stopped near Wannalancit Mills, where Prophete again told the students to get off the shuttle. The group of students behind him continued to stand up for the driver, which Prophete said resulted in one of them getting physically assaulted by the other group that was smoking the cigarettes prior. The student allegedly called the group ignorant prior to the assault. The student who was assaulted remained on the shuttle, but Prophete said the group continued to taunt the student. “One of the guys was banging on the windows saying ‘come get it.’ I thought he was directing it at me, but he was talking to the kid behind me,” said Prophete. More vulgar names and curse words were said toward Prophete and the other students from the accused group. They eventually walked away toward East Campus, but four of them were intercepted by the police. Once all students were off the shuttle, Prophete went back to University
Crossing, but the co-driver filed the report because Prophete said he was still processing the events of the evening. Prophete said he does not know any of the passengers personally. He has not had contact with the police but has been in communication with his manager at Transportation Services and with Student Conduct.
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March 27, 2018
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ‘Tomb Raider’ deserves to raid one’s free time
►Continued from front page
on a video game, which almost always fail, but Vikander brings her talent out in full force. Vikander is a strong dramatic actor, so she does a good job in the movie’s emotional scenes, but she also has the charisma and on-screen likability to be an action star. Every good action hero needs a good nemesis, and “Tomb Raider” delivers on that, too. Vogel is not just some generic bad guy who wants to do bad guy things because the plot requires him to. He is a fleshed-out villain with a clear motivation and good reasons for the audience to understand why he is the bad guy, and he feels like the perfect starting villain for an action hero to first come up against. While the characters of Croft and Vogel are indeed strong, there are a few times where the movie accidentally undercuts them. For example, Croft sells a present her father gave her for money to search for him. It should be a hard action for the character and an emotional scene for the audience, but the action makes no sense because Croft has access to her father’s entire fortune that she could use. Then there
is a scene where Vogel executes a man as a showing of his evilness, but this type of evil action does not fit with Vogel’s established characteristics. While these two scenes might seem like minor issues, they are emblematic of a weakness with the movie’s story
West) narration at the beginning of the movie is literally repeated 15 minutes later so that Croft knows what is going on. There are also a series of flashbacks of Croft and her father to help explain Croft’s character, and when these scenes happen and are used to
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Adrian Askarieh has stated that there could potentially be a video game based cinematic universe including titles such as “Tomb Raider” and “Hitman.”
telling that sometimes comes up. For example, story exposition is given multiple times, the most obvious example being Croft’s father’s (Dominic
set up character actions or plot details it is pretty obvious and dumb. For example, there is a flashback where Croft is learning to shoot a bow and
arrow when she is a teenager simply so it will explain how she knows how to use one when she is on the island. Other than how silly the set up for the bow and arrow are, everything else dealing with the action in the movie is good. There is a wide variety of action scenes including gun fights, booby traps that the characters must face and an entire scene where Croft is on a dilapidated airplane hanging over a waterfall that is reminiscent of the trailer scene in “The Lost World,” which just might be the best scene in the movie. Along with the variety of action scenes, the movie handles the action in a way where it constantly feels like Croft could be in danger and has different ways of executing it. One action scene even looks and feels like a stealth mission that would exist in a video game. There is a weakness to the story, but based on the main heroine and the action scenes “Tomb Raider” is ultimately a fun action film that has the potential to either create a fun action franchise or give Vikander a chance to be an action star. Final Grade: B
‘Now Only’ continues the examination of human finitude Patrick Connell Connector Staff
Last year, singer-songwriter Phil Elverum released an album titled “A Crow Looked at Me” while working under the artist name of Mount Eerie. The album was composed and recorded in the room of his house where Elverum’s wife, Geneviève, died late in 2016 from pancreatic cancer. Many publications wrote to say that it was one of the greatest albums to come out in 2017, but it is a tough listen for anyone. The way Elverum mumbles—not really even singing—about the concept of death, and the harrowing reality of it, and all that it encompasses for the entirety of the album is so emotionally draining, leaving the listener feeling empty and broken at the end. And now, he has returned to sing more on that subject with the recently released “Now Only.” The album is told through anecdotes of Elverum’s life, and the opener, “Tintin in Tibet,” discusses a few of those quiet little moments he had connecting with his wife while she was still alive: “I sing Courtesy of P.W. Elverum & Sun
The track “Tintin in Tibet” is a reference to volume 20 of the Belgian comic “The Adventures of Tintin.”
to you, Geneviève … You don’t exist … I sing to you though.” He recounts the first time meeting her and spending the evening at her abode early in his career. He talks about a few days later being with her in his truck out on a beach, just reading a book about the Himalayas. And then he connects it to how Geneviève talked about becoming molecules floating around up there on her deathbed. It is almost too stark, too real. The lead single, and longest song, of the album, “Distortion,” has many winding tales all connected to coming to terms with the physicality of death. He sings about growing up and realizing he does not want to die and have life just cease. He had to read a biblical passage at his grandfather’s funeral, but he says the dead, embalmed body he saw before him spoke much more clearly than the verse he was reading from. A pregnancy scare at 23 threw him into an existential crisis on the meaning of fatherhood and how his progeny will see him. A documentary he saw on Jack Kerouac showed how the author was too mystified and never really cared for his family. The second dead body he sees in his life after his grandfather’s is his wife’s. She is kept alive in Elverum’s memories, but he knows that someday he will die as well. The title track is the most melodic of all of them; at least the chorus of the song is since the rest is Elverum talking over drawn out chords strummed on his guitar. The chorus muses about how people die seemingly at random and how it happens singularly to those dying. During the verses of the song “Now Only,” Elverum talks about how his album last year gave him some notoriety and compelled a music festival to have him perform live. He mulls over the oddity of it. He stays up late talking with Father John Misty about writing songs, feeling it to be so absurd that he is alive. As he leaves, he is overcome with the thought of losing his wife’s memory and selling the feeling as merchandise. Elverum is obviously distraught by the loss of his
wife and what it means for him and his daughter, but this album does make it seem like he has gotten farther in the grievance process than on “A Crow Looked at Me.” Here he sings more about learning to cope rather than feeling totally empty on its predecessor. This also translates to greater usage of melody and consideration for what these pieces might sound like as songs. To reiterate the phrase littered throughout his 2017 album, “Death is real,” and because it happens to everyone inevitably, Elverum is asking the listener to look at it with unwavering vision. It is by no means a pretty occurrence, and by extension, neither is this album. However, the rawness of emotion portrayed here and the poetic descriptions and their interrelatedness all come together to form a very compelling piece of art. Final Grade: A Courtesy of The New Yorker
March 27, 2018
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
‘Kirby: Star Allies’ takes one to the stars Vernon Gibbs Connector Staff
Anyone can unwind with a Kirby game in front of them. Released on the Nintendo Switch on March 16, “Kirby: Star Allies” follows the long-standing premise of a cute, pink blob with an insatiable appetite for saving the world. One knows the drill by now—a newly discovered threat to Kirby’s home has appeared, and it is up to the player to assimilate its foes like the adorable puffball it is. Returning to the console scene, this installment of Kirby lives up to its expectations. And what a jump to console it is. With the newfound graphic capabilities of the Nintendo Switch, “Kirby: Star Allies” shows off its vivid landscapes and pleasing color palettes. This bright and cheery atmosphere lends itself well to the franchise as a whole, helping to put the player at ease in the even more stressful situations that the levels have to offer. That said, this game will be hard-pressed in keeping the player in a difficult situation. The Kirby series has earned a reputation for its simplistic, easy-to-master gameplay, and “Star Allies” is no exception. This time around, the player may not even need to hit the enemies in front of them, when they can have their allies do all the heavy lifting for them. Despite this, “Star Allies” will not leave the player bored to tears. The stages laid out for the player are all well thought-out puzzles that involve the occasional curb stomping of enemy forces. The game encourages the player to be mindful of the mem-
bers of their posse, though simply replacing them as soon as possible often removes that level of decision-making. To say that Kirby games have story to them would be an overstatement. Kirby wakes up, finds a MacGuffin of villain number 27, and begins yet another journey to stop the planet of Popstar from the unreasonable number of forces conspiring against it. Yet, despite such a predictable premise, Kirby has managed to roll with it. “Star Allies” knows that its plot is horrible, and instead makes light of it through its characters and lines, the few times it has any. It fits right in with its care-free design, not making the player sweat any of the details as one sinks into the enjoyment that is a typical Kirby game. If someone is looking for a strong story or difficult fights, however, then there is still a slice of the game dedicated towards that. “Star Allies” has taken a page from “Super Smash Brothers” for the Wii U and 3DS, making its Boss Rush game mode with a sliding scale of difficulty—one that is only difficult for those actively seeking it. However, this one piece of a real challenge is locked behind the several hours of story mode, which turns the boss rush from a selling point to a side note. Those seeking a challenge should not look towards “Star Allies.” Lasting as one of the oldest series in the Nintendo library, it is remarkable enough that Kirby has remained engaging up to this day. It is clear that Kirby remains the powerhouse it is for what it has to offer beyond the other Nintendo IPs: good old, casual fun. “Star Allies” is a blast to play, and not because
of any difficulty curves or challenging bosses. Between its beautiful design, simplistic gameplay and hindering story, “Star Allies” succeeds for its ability to be enjoyed by all audiences. Should one look to pick this game up, the main story mode should last them between six to eight hours. Final Grade: B Courtesy of Nintendo
Characters from past games such as Animal Friends and Marx are offered as free downloadable content.
This summer earn credits toward your degree Undergraduate or Graduate – Online or On Campus Maymester: Session 2: Session 3: Session 4:
May 21– June 8 June 12– July 12 June 18– August 6 July 17– August 15
For a list of courses, and to register:
umassd.edu/summer QUESTIONS? 508.999.9202 online@umassd.edu
Before creating Mount Eerie, Elverum was part of a band called The Microphones from 1996 to 2003.
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March 27, 2017
CAMPUS LIFE
SGA Election Spotlight: Andre DiFilippo & Vilma Okey-ewurum Kelly Michael Skelton Connector Editor
It is once again almost time for UMass Lowell’s prominent Student Government Association (SGA) Elections. This year’s presidential and vicepresidential ticket features Andre DiFilippo and Vilma Okey-ewurum against David Morton and Eric Eisner. Running together, the DiFilippo/Okey-ewurum campaign features the common theme of rebranding SGA to become more in-touch with the student body. DiFilippo brings a wealth of SGA experience into his campaign as he has served as a senator at-large for each of the past three years. Now entering his senior year at UMass Lowell, he hopes to use his past observations to better serve his fellow students. This past year, DiFilippo was on executive board of student government as the Chair of Academic Affairs committee. Originally from Malden, Mass., he now lives on campus as a marketing and management major in the Manning School of Business. DiFilippo’s running mate, Vilma Okey-ewurum was intrigued to collaborate based on his experience and how well they complement one another. As the vice president of SGA, one’s role includes running the senate, a group that Okey’Ewurum is very familiar with as she is currently a senator of the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. At a university with international students ranging from over 60 different countries, Okey-ewurum
plans to use her own experience as a foreign student to advocate for improvements in understanding this demographic. She is originally from Nigeria and is currently in her third year at UMass Lowell. In addition to serving as the vice chair of student government public relations committee and coordinator for the UMass Lowell orientation program, Okey-ewurum is also the president of the
a long-standing working relationship with UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney in his position on the executive board of SGA. He attends monthly luncheons with UMass Lowell’s top administration and is proud to be the only candidate having previous SGA executive board experience. “We need opportunities that reflect the student body’s needs” said DiFilippo. As a senator, DiFilippo has already begun making changes in mental health legislation and gaining support for an LGBTQ resource center. While working on his official proposal for those matters, DiFilippo and Okey-ewurum will also be ramping up their campaign awareness. After announcing their candidacy on March 20, the team plans on visiting clubs for outreach, promoting their objectives on social media and spreading awareness on campus with flyers and signage. In regards to the campaign’s formidable actions and stances, DiFilippo and Okey-ewurum emphasize putting the students’ needs first. They advocate for: more student support services, more academic services and a continuous dialogue with the student body. Some of their plans include: more mental health services, a fight for 24-hour study spaces, more on-campus job opportunities, Courtesy of the DiFilippo/Okey’Ewurum Campaign better advising for students and making SGA more DiFilippo and Okey’Ewurum bring prior SGA experience. accessible for students. Gospel Choir. Voting is held on April 3 and 4 at uml.edu/ As for role definition, the president of SGA elections. Undergraduate students currently is the main student contact for UMass Lowell’s enrolled can log-in with their student credentials. administration communications. No stranger to To learn more about DiFilippo and Okey-ewurum’s this relationship, DiFilippo has already developed campaign, visit their website at UMLforward.com.
Post Parkland: What has changed at UMass Lowell? David Todisco Connector Contributor
Since the shooting in Parkland, Fla. a conversation has erupted throughout campus. As with every mass shooting, the recent tragedy in Florida has stirred feelings of stress and hopelessness among people across campus and the nation. Most of the student population is realizing “thoughts and prayers” is not going to make us safe. The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who are speaking up in a time of turmoil in our nation are determined to make this the last mass shooting in America. Emma Gonzales, a senior at the high school, spoke at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 17. Emma raised the point that in Florida, a permit or gun license is not required to purchase or even register a weapon. In America, we must be 18 to buy cigarettes and lottery tickets, 21 to buy alcohol, 25 to rent a car, but yet there is no federal minimum age requirement to purchase a firearm. Jaclyn Corin, a junior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was quoted on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd saying “We took 17 bullets to the heart. And we’re the only ones who can speak up. We have to be adults in this situation, because clearly people have failed us in the government.” The Parkland event has sparked opinions among UMass Lowell stu-
dents about what course of action reform. “Background checks and government officials should take to mental health screenings are certainprevent more shootings. ly not an invasion of privacy, and I Curtis Bouchea, president of think if you want to have a gun for UMass Lowell College Republicans, the right reason (personal protection) voiced his belief that states should passing such tests should make you adopt stricter background checks and proud, not offended.” should end gun free zones. “Schools should have an armed guard or faculty member” claims Bouchea. “We must create stricter regulations on background checks. We must look at stricter mental health checks. We must ensure that our schools are safe” said Bouchea. Vice President of UMass Lowell Courtesy of Politifact College Democrats Julie Lawton beThousands of people participated in lieves that immediate and strict gun reform is the solution that can heal Few may have noticed, but on camour nation. “We need to ban assault pus there are a number of “what to rifles,” says Lawton. “These should do incase of an active shooter” postnot be able to get into the hands of ers scattered. The recent events also any American who is not an official made the student body wonder, just trained on this weapon.” Lawton how safe is UMass Lowell? says, “After a mass shooting in AusCampus Resources Officer Wiltralia in 1999, they started their gun liam Emmons of University Police buyback program. Since that law has has been at UMass Lowell for four been implemented in Australia, there years and served as an officer in Hudhave been 0 school shootings.” son, N.H. for 20 years before joining UMass Lowell junior and BLA UMass Lowell. Emmons explained major, Darren McFadden is not con- that the shooting in Parkland, Fla. did vinced of recent suggestions to arm not change the UMass Lowell policy school teachers. He said “A buyback for public safety. “No, it didn’t change program may take more time, but will much for us. Unlike a high school, be more effective than just covering you can’t really close [campus] off.” up the issue by supplying teachers While this explanation may leave with guns.” one feeling hopeless with the possibilAmelia Desjardins, senior and ity of an active shooter, Emmons said psychology major at UMass Lowell there are extensive measures in place thinks we need common sense gun at UMass Lowell that serve to protect
students and faculty. “We have over 600 cameras on campus and we also follow up on everything sent to us. If we understand a student is suicidal or is making statements that are odd or freighting we definitely step up and look into it,” said Emmons. Emmons also described ways in which students can serve as a proactive hand on campus. “A big thing is social media and things like that. We can’t monitor everything and we cannot see everything. We need [people on campus] to not be dismissive of ‘oh that person will never do something.’ We as the police can’t do it alone. We can be very reactive to things but we also like to be proactive,” said Officer Emmons. “The last thing you want is to be caught in something like that and not know how to react. Mental preparation is a huge thing,” said Emmons. He went on to explain the university offers free public classes to students who want to take a preparation class in the event of an active shooter on campus. They are hosted frequently and new sessions can be found at uml.edu/EEM/Training-schedule/. Students can express their views to their representative in Congress by going to callyourrep.co to find their contact information.
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NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is full of surprises and upsets ► Continued from front page
score of 55-53. They have their hands full though,
since they face number two seed Duke University in the next round.
Aside from Virginia, the other number one seeds all won in their respective conferences in the first round. Villanova, with a record of 30-4 for the regular season, defeated the 16th-seeded Radford University, hitting 14 of 27 3-pointers. Xavier University, with a 28-5 record, defeated
Texas Southern University, scoring 102 points and tying their season high for points. Finally, the University of Kansas, with a 27-7 record, defeated the University of Pennsylvania behind point guard Devonte Graham’s 29 points. In the second round, Villanova cruised past the University of Alabama 81-58 with their small forward/shooting guard Mikal Bridges hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 23 points. Interestingly, Xavier lost in the second round to ninth seed Florida
U P C OM I N G
River Hawk Games Wednesday, March 28
3 p.m.
BB at Marist
Friday, March 30
1 and 3 p.m.
Friday, March 30
12 and 3 p.m. BB at Stony Brook
Friday, March 30
12 p.m. WLAX vs Stony Brook
Saturday, March 31
All Day XCTF at River Hawk Invit.
Saturday, March 31
4 p.m.
SB at UMBC
MLAX vs UMBC
For more sports information and full game schedules visit goriverhawks.com
(Keith Srakocic/ AP Photos)
Villanova University men’s basketball team has appeared in 36 NCAA tournaments and won in 2016.
State University with Florida overcoming a doubledigit deficit to win. The other number one seed in the west, Kansas, defeated Seton Hall University in their matchup in a close 83-79 victory. With the Sweet 16 underway, Florida State has defeated Gonzaga University 75-60 marking the first time Florida is headed to the Elite Eight since 1993. Not only that, but they also managed to end Gonzaga’s 16-game winning streak. Florida is set to play Michigan State on March 24 in the final matchup of the West Division. Michigan won their matchup against Texas A&M University in a high scoring 99-72 victory. Their senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman led the team with 24 points and seven assists. In the South Atlantic conference, Kansas State is set to play Loyola Chicago on March 24. Kansas State won their matchup in the second round against Kentucky in a close score of 61-58, and Loyola Chicago defeated the University of Nevada in a thrilling 69-68 victory.
Zachary Rowell jazzes up the UMass Lowell soccer team Hannah Manning Connector Editor
UMass Lowell junior goalkeeper Zachary Rowell is somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades. At St. John’s Prep, Rowell played soccer, indoor track and tennis. Sixteen of the career shutouts he accumulated on the soccer pitch in high school came when he was a senior. Off the field, Rowell earned high honors, and was recognized as an excellent history and religion student. He continued to play in college, first at Assumption College and then at UMass Lowell, recording 26 saves across four appearances at both schools. He also happens to be killer at music. Rowell has played in concert and jazz bands since he was single digits, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon, despite how challenging it can be to balance Division I soccer, academics at UMass Lowell, and music. Rowell said that has been playing music since he was in elementary school when he picked up the alto saxophone. He has not put it down in the years since; Rowell moved up from the alto to the tenor and baritone saxophone, saying that he has even
tried the soprano on a few occasions. Beyond that, Rowell has dabbled in clarinet, flute and the ukulele. “I picked up the ukulele a little over a year and a half ago on a whim and I’ve loved it, so that’s been a fun side project of mine to learn over the past few months,” said Rowell. The musical talent does not fall far from the tree. Rowell says that his mother was a prolific musician, playing the flute, piccolo, guitar and serving as a drum major in her high school marching band. Combined with the singing talents of his father, Rowell says that he was inspired to immerse himself in music “as much as I could.” Growing up around so much music and playing it himself, Rowell says that his taste is scattered across several genres. As long as a song has a good beat, Rowell will give it a chance. “Recently, I’ve been really into Quinn XCII, Skizzy Mars and Logic, but I can appreciate anything from rock and roll to rap to bluegrass and folk,” said Rowell. But when he is the one making the music, Rowell tends to veer towards jazz, especially when he is playing the saxophone. He names John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie as his particular inspirations as
“quintessential masters of improvisation and jazz as a whole.” The ukulele is a different story – Rowell says that he prefers to cover pop and more relaxed songs. Playing soccer at the collegiate level makes it difficult for Rowell to practice but not impossible. Though it can be stressful to handle a Division I sport and the course load of a business management major, Rowell says that music has a calming effect on him. “I’ve always felt that music is something that allowed me to get through any adversity that came my way, so I’ve forced myself to make time for it. It’s always helped me to keep a level head and relax even if school or soccer isn’t going the way I wanted it to,” said Rowell. Despite the significant stressors of college, Rowell says that he has had time to perform. He performed in the jazz ensemble at Assumption, and he has played at the Manning School of Business Talent Show while at UMass Lowell. “I’d say I’ve been given quite a few opportunities to perform throughout my last few years, not as much as I would’ve liked, but at least there was some chances to have some fun with it,” said Rowell.
Performing has given Rowell not only a chance to express himself but also an opportunity to connect with major figures in the field. In high school, Rowell performed “Blue Orpheus” at the University of New Hampshire with his jazz combo. Afterwards, he was approached by jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. “He said that he thought that I interpreted the melody in such an interesting way and that my solo was easy to follow and seemed to be planned out, which was a huge compliment coming from such a renowned figure in the jazz community today,” said Rowell. After college, Rowell may well follow in Gordon’s footsteps. Rowell says he is eying a career in the music industry. “I’m not really sure to what capacity I would like to be involved, but I know for certain I’ll somehow get music into whatever I do in life after college,” said Rowell. For any curious listeners, Rowell says that unfortunately he does not have a SoundCloud – but he is not ruling one out completely. “I might start one up, so stay on the lookout,” said Rowell.
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