DailyCollegian.comTuesday, March 3, 2015

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Serving the UMass community since 1890

President: Rocco GiordanoVP: Danny Mirlay Srinivas

President: Charlotte KellyVP: Sammi Gay

President: Sïonan BarrettVP: Chantal Lima Barbosa

Giordano Mirlay Srinivas

“We have the same priorities, but we are not in complete agreement on

everything. It keeps us on our feet.”Rocco Giordano

"We complement each other."Danny Mirlay Srinivas

Student Trustee:Emily O’Neil

Student Trustee:Kabir Thatte

Student Trustee:Nicholas Vigneau

Student Trustee:Gabriel Schmitt

Kelly Gay Barrett Lima Barbosa

“As long as you're doing your part in this community to flourish and build these connections, you're a

leader."Charlotte Kelly

“A lot of the things on our plat-form, we’re already working on. We already have the connections with administration and faculty

that are needed for this position.”Sïonan Barrett

“You're representing every student in the University, not just the ones that are like you. That's important to remember. It's

important for the student trustee to expand outside of the SGA..."

“For me I think being a part of this trustee position culminates a lot of

what I want to do in my life. I want to give back to others in the best way I

can."

“Being able to talk with people and connect with people and listen is by far the most important skill for any

job.”

“I’ve been working a very long time on this issue and sort of how UMass has dealt with health policy, how UHS has

been running ... I think that makes me a very viable person to be the trustee...”

O’Neil Thatte Vigneau Schmitt

SGA election reforms address some concerns

By Anthony RentschCollegian Staff

The Student Government Association has taken steps to address at least some of the con-cerns with the election process raised last fall. According to Kabir Thatte, chair of the Administrative Affairs Committee, the SGA has instituted three new major elec-tion policies that will kick into effect this semester: separation of the undergraduate president/vice president and student trust-ee campaigns, raising of cam-paign budgets for individual campaigns – both president/vice president and student trustee – from $75 to $150 and an interview process for election commission-ers through the Administrative Affairs Committee. Additionally, Charlotte Kelly, director of Women’s Affairs under the SGA’s Secretary of Diversity, said that Registered Student Organizations are no longer able to publically endorse campaigns, something that she finds troubling. “(RSO) voices are just as valid as those of every day students,”

Kelly said. Although a student-led elec-tion reform committee was formed last fall and met weekly, it produced no “tangible results,” Thatte said in a recent email. The reforms for the spring elections came though the Administrat ive Af f a irs Committee, which used some of the ideas formulated in the Election Reform Committee. Emily Devenney, special assis-tant to the Diversity and Student Engagement Committee and a member of the Election Reform Committee, said that the deci-sion to split the president/vice president and trustee campaigns was the most important change to come out of the process. According to Devenney, the trustee position is one that rep-resents both undergraduate and graduate students. With the trustee included in the under-graduate president/vice presi-dent ticket, there was another degree of separation between the trustee and his or her constitu-ents. Last spring’s election brought this dynamic to the surface, when the ticket of Ellie Miske, Gabrielle Cook and Devenney was invalidated. According to Emily O’Neil, Diversity and

Student Engagement Committee chair, graduate students were unhappy that an undergraduate election commission removed their trustee choice. “It gives graduate students more agency over the election through the student trustee,” Devenney said of the reform. “In terms of representing the graduate population holistically,

the separation of the president/vice president and student trust-ee is really helpful,” Chancellor of Elections Divya Kirti added. “It gives graduate students a more concrete contact person.” Kirti said that, logistically, this reform does create some issues. In the past, not only have pres-ident and vice president candi-

dates been able to openly support a trustee candidate, students also worked on both parties’ cam-paigns. With the separation of the ballot, campaign staffers are not allowed to work for two cam-paigns. “It becomes complicated (to enforce),” Kirti said. “What are

Changes failed to fix all issues raised last semester

see REFORMS on page 5

One Last Shot Page 6

Lack of transparency from Elections Commission endangers spring ballot, writes Zac Bears

Page 10

A free and responsible press

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN2 Tuesday, March 3, 2015 DailyCollegian.com

By Anthony RentschCollegian Staff

Rocco Giordano and Dhananjay (Danny) Mirlay Srinivas are not the typi-cal Student Government Association insiders run-ning for president and vice president. Giordano has been the elections commissioner for the past two elections while Mirlay Srinivas has no experi-ence with the SGA prior to this campaign. While neither has a lot of practice with the day-to-day operations of the SGA, both have got-ten the majority of their experience working with students more directly as residential assistants. Currently, Giordano and Mirlay Srinivas are president and vice presi-dent of the National Residence Hall Honorary, respectively.“I’m running from the outside because I feel the SGA needs to change,” Mirlay Srinivas said. The two legal stud-ies majors have also been involved with legal aspects of student life on campus. Giordano served a brief stint as an SGA judicial advisor and Mirlay Srinivas is a legal assistant at the Student Legal Services Office. Their experiences, both with students and

with the University of Massachusetts’ disci-plinary practices, have encouraged them to seek to shore up relationships between students and the administration. If elected, the pair has a particular interest in reforming the student conduct system. “The UMass Amherst campus is home to an increasingly punitive student conduct sys-tem that seeks to make examples out of students who violate the code of conduct,” according to a post on their campaign’s Facebook page. “Some of the deci-sions from the Dean’s office, I was stunned by,” Giordano said. “We do make mistakes but it is part of growing up.” “Sometimes the crime doesn’t equal the punish-ment,” Mirlay Srinivas said. “We need to think about (students’) futures.” The Giordano/Mirlay Srinivas ticket would also like to see the administra-tion allow student busi-nesses more freedom, especially by allowing them to accept Dining Dollars. “Student businesses teach people to manage and be responsible and

Giordano/ Mirlay SrinivasBy cAtheRine FeRRis

Collegian Staff

As the Student Government Association elections quickly approach, presidential and vice presidential candidates Charlotte Kelly and Sammi Gay continue to campaign for a number of issues at the University of Massachusetts, including transparency and accessi-bility. Kelly has been involved with the SGA in the past as a senator. Although she studied abroad last semes-ter, she said, “I came back really motivated and want-ing to change the system and change the way the SGA operates.” Her running mate, Gay, has not been involved with the SGA and said it was intimidating at first to run. However, she added that she is motivated to get voices from various groups on campus heard. “While we were collect-ing signatures, it became apparent students feel disconnected and disen-franchised with the SGA,” Kelly said. “They don’t know what happens in the office, they don’t feel comfortable entering that office and they don’t feel like there’s anyone advo-cating for their rights and needs.” Gay echoed that senti-

ment, saying, “I was one of those students previously before running in this campaign who felt discon-nected and felt like I had no say and that my voice wasn’t heard.” The duo said they want things to be more transpar-ent between the student government and student body in the way things run. Kelly said she spoke with hundreds of students about the SGA. She believes it is impor-tant to realize what kind of purpose the organization holds on campus because it communicates with administrators, handles a budget of $2.2 million and has full jurisdiction over a set of constitutions the student government has to abide by. Kelly also said it’s important for students to realize that anyone is capable of being a leader, even if they don’t neces-sarily hold a position, “… whether it’s them being a good bystander or good roommate.” “As long as you’re doing your part in this commu-nity to flourish and build these connections, you’re a leader,” she said. Kelly is currently the director of Women’s Affairs and while she is

Kelly/GayBy PAtRick hoFF

Collegian Staff

They have a campaign sticker reminiscent of a for-mer United States presiden-tial campaign, promise to hit the ground running and have a combined four years of experience in the Student Government Association. In other words, Sïonan Barrett and Chantal Lima Barbosa feel they’re ready for the job.The duo, running for president and vice president, respective-ly, prides themselves on being involved throughout campus and are confident they’re ready for the job. “We have a really good mix … (and) we’re really pas-sionate about anything we do regarding SGA or an organiza-tion that we’re really involved with,” Sïonan Barrett said. Barrett currently serves as the speaker of the SGA Senate, a position she has held for two years. Previously, she served as a senator for the Southwest Residential Area. Her running mate, Chantal Lima Barbosa, is currently in her first year with the SGA, serving as the Secretary of Public Relations and Recruitment. Lima Barbosa also serves as president of the Cape Verdean Student Alliance, a cultural Registered Student Organization on cam-pus. “I thought that because I’ve been in SGA for only a year,

I was unqualified to partici-pate in this election, but I have fresh view,” Lima Barbosa said. “I hang a lot with stu-dents who are not part of SGA so I kind of get their perspec-tive and what they think and I bring it into senate meetings or cabinet.” Despite the fact that she is not a senator, Lima Barbosa said she participates a lot, making sure her voice is heard, along with the count-less other voices she hears from outside the SGA. Barrett and Lima Barbosa assure voters they are ready to hit the ground running if elected, complete with the slo-gan, “Ready on Day One.” “A lot of the things on our platform, we’re already work-ing on,” Barrett said. “We already have the connections with administration and fac-ulty that are needed for this position. We’re not going to need a transition period. We’re going to be ready to go once we’re sworn in.” The duo said they already have the resources and con-nections across campus to put their plans into place, includ-ing adapting meal plans, better funding for RSOs and better use of student spaces. “We do need to increase our (Student Activity Trust Fund) fee because even if we look at how our groups are funded, we are still, as

Barrett/Barbosa

see BARRETT on page 4 see GIORDANO on page 5

GET TO KNOW THE CANDIDATES

see KELLY on page 5

PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN Tuesday, March 3, 2015 3DailyCollegian.com

By Jaclyn BrysonCollegian Staff

Gabriel Schmitt’s inspi-ration to get involved with the Student Government Association started with none other than his mom. “She worked with people in the SGA when she was negotiating with admin-istrators over cuts they were trying to make to University Health Services. She told me about how stu-dent government people had a prominent voice in those negotiations,” he said. “My freshmen year, I wanted to get to know that position that she had described to me.” So during his first year at the University of Massachusetts, he did just that, becoming a part of the SGA Senate. Now, three years later, he’s looking to become the next student

trustee and embrace the role as the voice of the stu-dent body. Schmitt sees the role of student trustee as being the “most prominent rep-resentative” on campus. He spoke about the impor-tance of the strong working relationship between the student trustee and people making policy and fee deci-sions. Currently, Schmitt doesn’t have a position with the SGA but he cites his work with the Crabtree-Knowlton House council, University Health Council, town meeting delegations and the Faculty Senate Council as experience that would make him a strong candidate for student trust-ee. He also believes that going to Amherst Regional High School and growing up watching the UMass

campus transition and change gives him an edge. “I have a lot of expe-rience around UMass,” he said. “I’ve (known) this university for a very long time and I think that’s a benefit for my understand-ing (of the campus).” With such experience, Schmitt said that as student trustee, he would embrace his role as a voice for the students, putting emphasis on student health. According to Schmitt, the health services on cam-pus are in need of atten-tion, and he’s looking for ways to make positive change. “Candidates are all going to be doing different things,” he said. “I’ve been working a very long time on this issue and sort of

Gabriel SchmittBy aviva luttrell

Collegian Staff

U n ive r s i t y o f Massachusetts student trustee candidate Nicholas Vigneau wasn’t born into a particularly political fam-ily, but said he developed a passion for helping solve his fellow students’ prob-lems during his time at UMass. The junior legal stud-ies and political science major said he draws much of his inspiration from the work of the Kennedy fam-ily – specifically, Bobby Kennedy. “Where I connected with him, besides person-ality, was that he would go out and talk to peo-ple,” Vigneau said. “That’s where he would figure out problems.” Vigneau said he was drawn to the Kennedys’

willingness to give back to their community and to use their political power to solve the problems of other people. Now, Vigneau plans to take a similar approach ahead of the upcom-ing Student Government Association election. Instead of running a “loud” social media cam-paign, Vigneau said he’s been promoting his plat-form by word of mouth, walking around campus and talking with students to find out what they would like to see changed. “I’ve been (telling) peo-ple, ‘I’m running for this and I’m not going to tell you my initiatives right now and I’m not going to tell you how I feel, but I want to know what you think needs to be done,’” he said. “Being able to talk with people and connect

with people and listen is by far the most important skill for any job.” Vigneau hasn’t been involved in the SGA before, but said he sees that as an advantage. “I (have) a very good sense of the student body on campus and I think it would really complement the personalities within the SGA to have that out-side perspective,” he said. Vigneau decided to run for trustee after intern-ing as a legal assistant at the University’s Student Legal Services Office last semester, where he often saw SGA members coming in and out. SLSO is an offi-cial advisor to the SGA, he said, adding he was able to learn about the trustee position in particular from

Nicholas Vigneau

By eleanor HarteCollegian Staff

Affordability of educa-tion, Title IX protection and the recruitment and retention of a diverse stu-dent body are the three main components of Emily O’Neil’s SGA campaign plat-form for student trustee. The junior economics major and women, gender and sexuality studies minor is the only female candidate running for the trustee posi-tion. O’Neil joined the SGA as a senator her sopho-more year. She’s currently the chair of the Diversity and Student Engagement

Committee. As student trustee, O’Neil hopes to build stu-dent power. She plans to hold monthly town hall events and weekly office hours in places that are eas-ily accessible to students, like Earthfoods Café or the W.E.B. DuBois Library. Here, she said she will lis-ten to student concerns and seek to understand what students need from the University. “You’re represent-ing every student in the University, not just ones that are like you. That’s important to remember,” O’Neil said. “It’s important

for the student trustee to expand outside of the SGA, since that’s not usually rep-resentative of the university as a whole.” O’Neil hopes to build a strong online presence so students feel she’s easy to reach. This will include a website where students can voice concerns or give feedback, in case they don’t attend a town hall meeting. The governing docu-ment of the SGA is called the Wellman Document, which says the administra-tion needs to consult the SGA when it wants to insti-

Emily O'Neil

see SCHMITT on page 4 see VIGNEAU on page 5

see O'NEIL on page 5

STUDENT TRUSTEE

Kabir ThatteBy catHerine Ferris

Collegian Staff

Kabir Thatte, a junior political science and eco-nomics dual major, has been involved in the Student Government Association since the fall semester of his freshman year and is now seeking the student trustee seat. “I’ve always wanted to contribute to the campus in the best way I possibly can,” Thatte said. Thatte has held a number of positions during his time in SGA, including senator and a variety of committee positions. “I’ve been able to observe different issues, differ-

ent problems and different things that plague our cam-pus since I’ve been here,” he said. Thatte added he feels con-fident in his ability to con-vey what students are think-ing and important issues on campus to the Board of Trustees. Currently chairman of Administrative Affairs, Thatte and his committee have worked on making the elections process cleaner and more efficient. He said past elections have shown there are flaws in the system. One of the issues Thatte recognizes at UMass is the representation of graduate students.

“They have some of the biggest issues on campus that almost go unnoticed, especially by the undergrad-uate student body, and to an extent, even more so, the administration and the uni-versity system as a whole,” he said. He said there are gradu-ate students who have issues that undergraduate students may not be able to relate to, such as having children, being a teaching assistant with course loads and hav-ing to pay heavier loans than undergraduate students. “As trustee, I would meet with (graduate students)

see THATTE on page 5see O'NEIL on page 5

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN4 Tuesday, March 3, 2015 DailyCollegian.com

Candidate Photo Credit

Rocco Giordano | Danny Mirlay-Srinivas — Christina YaconoCharlotte Kelly | Sammi Gay — Christina YaconoSïonan Barrett | Chantal Lima Barbosa — Christina YaconoEmily O’Neil — Christina YaconoKabir Thatte — Christina YaconoNicholas Vigneau — Cade BelisleGabriel Schmitt — Christina Yacono

how UMass has dealt with health policy, how UHS has been running, and since that is a large stu-dent issue that has gone unaddressed by the stu-dent government, I think that makes me a very via-ble person to be the trust-ee because I have that type of experience that is rare.” In order to make cam-pus-wide improvements, Schmitt’s main goals involve two referendum bills, one of which will be on the spring ballot and involves a fee increase to benefit health services. The second would fund and establish a new health center on campus. “That would definitely be a big priority for me,” Schmitt said. “Not just trying to get funding for it, but trying to make sure a new health services facili-ty, if it were funded, would be built well and built with input.” Thus far, he said, there’s been a lot of sup-

port for this. From a personal point of view, he is also in the early stages of consider-ing reforms for his own major. “Mechanical engineer-ing is very difficult, and I think there could be some benefit to reviewing some of the coursework,” he said. In order to get his name out there, Schmitt is relying mostly on word of mouth. He is looking to find campaign work-ers and plans to visit lec-tures in the hopes that his running gives students a chance to vote for a unique brand of candidate. “I would hope that I could offer something to vote on that really gets their attention,” Schmitt said. “I’m hoping to offer an alternative to the clas-sic student government person.”

Jaclyn Bryson can be reached at jbryson@umass.edu.

SCHMITT continued from page 3

Taxi driver allegedly assaults passenger, flees scene

By Kathleen KirKCollegian Correspondent

Friday, Feb. 27

7:12 p.m.: William R. Hunter, 48, was arrested for disorderly con-duct outside of Amherst Brewing Company after threatening vio-lence.

7:49 p.m.: Police responded to reports of a male asleep on a bus at 813 N. Pleasant St. The male was awoken, removed from the bus and sent on his way.

10:40 p.m.: Police responded to reports of three suspicious motor vehicles parked at Crocker Farm School. Police investigated and found the vehicles cold to the touch and secure. They appeared to belong to college-aged students who might have used the lot to park their vehi-cles.

11:12 p.m.: Police observed a large number of “college students” at 250

Northampton Road. Police noted a party at the listed location and stood while more than 100 individuals crossed the street.

Saturday, Feb. 28

12:10 a.m.: Police responded to reports of a large party at 213 Grantwood Drive with destruction of property. Police assisted in clearing out the party without issue.

12:50 a.m.: Police observed a vehicle weaving within the traffic lane at the intersection of East Pleasant Street and Cherry Lane. Based on observations, police believed the driver was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Police were able to detect a faint smell of alco-hol on his breath. The driver agreed to perform a field sobriety test and he checked out OK. The driver stat-ed that he was trying to get the GPS on his phone to work and that was the reason he was driving all over the road.

1:30 a.m.: Police responded to reports of a disabled motor vehi-cle. The driver stated he hit a large pothole that gave him a flat

tire at 115 Belchertown Road.

1:35 a.m.: Jean-Philippe C. Beaudet, 23, of Centerville, was arrested for assault to maim, disorderly conduct and assault and battery at the Townehouse Apartments on Meadow Street. Police responded to reports of an unwanted guest in the home.

2:46 a.m.: Police responded to reports of a disturbance at the Alpine Commons. The male caller stated that he took a taxi and the taxi driver never turned on the meter and then tried to charge him a high rate. The male stated that he refused to pay the taxi driver’s price but offered to pay a lower amount. Then the taxi driver began assaulting some of the people in the male’s party. The taxi driver was not in the area upon arrival.

3:14 a.m.: Austin M. Hiller, 19, of North Andover, was arrested for a lights violation, failure to stop or yield, operating under the influence of alcohol and operat-ing a motor vehicle to endan-ger near Cumberland Farms on

Belchertown Road.

9:34 a.m.: Police responded to reports of vandalism at 240 Northampton Road. A male reported people banged on his door the night before and he did not answer. He discovered some windows were broken and that screens were bent back. The male also reported vehicle dam-age including a broken window and that the trunk was keyed.

3:02 p.m.: Police investigated a 9-1-1 call hang up. Male party said, “Oops” and then hung up. Police were unable to reach a live person on the phone to call back.

5:34 p.m.: William E. Pelkey, 49, was arrested for possession of an open container. Police found Pelkey with an open Bud Light can while walking down a sidewalk outside of Zanna on North Pleasant Street.

9:08 p.m.: Police responded to reports of a bus parked outside of the High Horse LLC that was blocking traffic. The bus was reportedly stopped for over an hour, making it difficult for vehicles to turn onto Amity Street.

The bus arrived back at High Horse again after clearing and was advised by police to relocate to the Big Y park-ing lot because of traffic.

Sunday, March 1

1:12 a.m.: Police responded to reports of a loud party at 314 Lincoln Ave. apartments. A warning was issued and resi-dents were cooperative in clear-ing out guests.

1:46 a.m.: Police responded to reports of a male party banging on doors at the University Lodge for about two hours. The male stated he was trying to get into his room and that a friend was asleep and did not wake up to answer the door. Management was contacted and maintenance opened the door.

10:23 p.m.: William A. Brown, 37, was arrested for disorderly conduct after causing a disturbance and cursing at staff at Craig’s Doors on 256 N. Pleasant St.

Kathleen Kirk can be reached at klkirk@umass.edu.

Police Log: Feb. 27 to March 1, 2015

UM students lobby State House, push for more funding

By Marie MaccuneCollegian Staff

More than 300 students will head to the Massachusetts State House Wednesday to lobby their legislators as part of Public Higher Education Advocacy Day. Lobbyists will be push-ing for increased funding for Massachusetts public colleges and universities in the FY16 bud-get. The event is organized in large part by PHENOM, the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts. According to the Public Education Summit Group Budget Proposal FY16, there are two asks dealing with University of Massachusetts funding. The first is an increase of $33.7 million in funding, depen-dent on the continuation of the tuition freeze. If tuition is set to go up, the second ask is for an increase of $59.7 million. FY15 marked the second year in a row that the University received funding to freeze tuition and fees for in-state students.

Natalie Higgins, executive director of PHENOM, said she is optimistic about securing their asks. She explained that PHENOM and Advocacy Day are advocat-ing in a new political environ-ment, having never existed under a Republican administration. “We really hope Gov. Baker understands what a great invest-ment public higher education is,” she said. “Republican gover-nors have understood this in the past.” She cited the establishment of the John and Abigail Adams tuition waiver under former Gov. Mitt Romney. This year, PHENOM has col-laborated with the Student Government Association, The Center for Education Policy and Advocacy (CEPA) and MASSPIRG on the UMass cam-pus in order to organize stu-dents. The University is expected to send around 80 students and will be the largest contingent at the State House. Chairwoman of the Diversity and Student Engagement com-mittee Emily O’Neill spoke about the SGA’s role in preparing for Advocacy Day. Through her and her committee,

SGA worked to prepare poten-tial student lobbyists through a teach-in held last Tuesday. “I think that the additional training that we gave this year and the extra information that was provided to students … will mean they will be able to really effectively lobby their legisla-tors,” O’Neill said. “And hopeful-ly legislators will be receptive to a huge group of state university students coming in and saying, ‘Hi, we all live in your district and we all really need free public higher (education).’” She added: “Our official demands are free public higher education. There is a question of whether UMass is truly public if it is not accessible and affordable for all.” O’Neil estimated there will be 30 SGA members lobbying Wednesday. Lucas Gutterman, the higher education campaign coordina-tor and state board treasurer for MASSPIRG, also cited the impor-tance of the teach-in training in preparing students for Advocacy Day. He said the motivation behind the additional training was that they wanted students to feel like “they were actually having an

impact.” According to Gutterman, “…the inspiration for MASSPIRG getting involved in Advocacy Day was broadening that (SGA participant) base to people who wouldn’t typically think this is something they would go to. So that people outside the SGA bub-ble would know about Advocacy Day and would feel comfortable and confident.” Filipe Carvalho, the access

and affordability director for CEPA, also worked to organize UMass students. For Carvalho, the work had personal motivation as well. “I feel that education is a right and so it should be free and accessible for everyone who wants it,” Carvalho said.

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

Group going as part of annual Advocacy Day

a whole, underfunded on such a level that doesn’t allow groups to reach their full potential,” Barrett said. “At other schools that are of comparable size, they have SATF fees of $200 and our SATF fee is $127.” She added that an increase of $70 to the SATF in one round would be too much but said there needs to be an increase of a couple dollars “to give RSOs some extra support and resources to do what the mission of their RSO is.” Barrett and Lima Barbosa were hard-pressed to name the most pressing issue on campus. “I don’t think it’s fair to pick one priority because there’s just so many issues,” Barrett said. “To one stu-dent, there might be a bigger priority to them than anoth-er, and I think our biggest priority is whatever student comes into our office with an issue that day.” Barrett worked with administrators a number of

times over the past few years to help make students feel more included on their own campus. “Something that I’ve gath-ered from all the students throughout these meetings and just talking to admin-istration is that we’re going to have to fight for things that we want, and to do that, you’re going to need people that are experienced and can negotiate with administra-tion and have those connec-tions to do so and to do that strategically,” Barrett said. Something the campaign feels particularly passionate about is the use of Dining Dollars at student business-es on campus. Currently, Dining Dollars can only be used at retail dining loca-tions owned by University of Massachusetts Dining Services. “UMass Dining is basi-cally monopolizing the way people spend money on meal plans and (student business-es) deserve to have the same luxury as UMass Dining

of being able to use Dining Dollars at their locations,” Barrett said. Barrett and Barbosa also noted that space in the Student Union is inadequate, either because of decaying rooms or because adminis-trators take precedence when booking rooms in a space meant to be for students. Lima Barbosa said students are “priority number three” when it comes to booking space. “RSOs can’t book big meeting spaces or planning spaces because, one, it costs too much because it’s not free to students, even in stu-dent spaces like the Student Union, or it’s already booked by alumni or administra-tion,” Barrett said. She added: “Students who want to meet with their groups and students who want to put on events shouldn’t have to pay extraor-dinary amounts of money when they don’t get enough funding in the first place to do so.”

The campaign also men-tioned untapped spaces, such as The Hatch, a former eatery in the Student Union that has sat empty for six months. One proposal that Barrett has been working on is the construction of a new Student Union, a plan that she hopes will begin to become a con-crete reality in the next five years. “We’re going to be ready the day we’re sworn into office, we’re going to be ready to move on these projects,” Barrett said. “And actually, we’ve already been moving on them before. “This is a title, and it might help us get things done a little faster, but we’re going to get it done either way, because for us, it’s not about the title. It’s about the change and about helping the cam-pus community. That’s what we’ve been doing and that’s what we want to con-tinue to do.”

Patrick Hoff can be reached at pphoff@umass.edu.

BARRETT continued from page 2

CHAMBERLIN/FLICKR

More than 300 lobbyists are estimated to attend Public Higher Education Advocacy Day in Boston.

By AvivA LuttreLLCollegian Staff

Access to residen-tial dining halls will be limited to University of Massachusetts students, faculty and staff with a valid UMass ID during the weekend of March 6 to 8, according to an email from UMass Dining Services Monday. The change will be in effect from March 6 at 5 p.m. through March 8 at

5 p.m. Guest swipes may only be used for other UMass students during this period. The University has already announced chang-es to its residence hall guest policy and on-cam-pus parking in an effort to prevent outside guests from coming to UMass for the annual “Blarney Blowout” St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN Tuesday, March 3, 2015 5DailyCollegian.com

the guidelines for students on campaign staffs? It is something we need to clear up in the future.” The campaign budget increase is a side effect of that president/vice pres-ident-trustee separation. The increase is supposed to accommodate for the fact that president/vice presi-dent tickets and trustees candidates can no longer join their campaigns and pool resources. “It made sense to increase the access to funds for every standalone ticket,” Thatte said. Kirti said that she antici-pates the amount of printed campaign literature will go up along with the extra money in campaign bud-gets. In the future, Devenney said that some minor changes to the bylaws will allow for more “creative campaigning tactics,” apart from just printing campaign literature. For instance, starting next spring, can-didates will be allowed to use their campaign funds

at multiple vendors instead of just at Campus Design & Copy. O’Neil, however, expressed concern that this reform would demote money being spent at stu-dent businesses. Kelly added that the inter-view process for elections commissioners through the Administrative Affairs Committee could pose a con-flict of interest if and when a committee member runs for office. In this election, for instance, its chair, Thatte, is running for trustee. Despite these reforms, the SGA did not decide to act upon one of the core issues surrounding last fall’s election. When the election reform committee was created last semester, Thatte told the Collegian that a more meaningful senatorial rep-resentation was a prior-ity. However, this concern was not addressed in the reforms. “The reason that there is no change is that there was a lot of talk and no agree-

ment,” Devenney said. Thatte added: “It was absolutely crucial to fin-ish any and all changes to the current election before the Spring 2015 semester began.” Devenney said that pro-posals to apportion sena-torial seats based on class year and academic college, rather than residential area, were aired but ultimately shot down. The class year represen-tation system raised con-cerns of disadvantaging first year students while the academic college system was worrisome because it could potentially encour-age highly competitive elec-tions in some colleges, like the College of Social and

Behavioral Sciences, which encompasses the political science major and less com-petitive elections in other colleges. Although Thatte said that a new senatorial representa-tion strategy was one of the goals of the Administrative Affairs Committee this semester, O’Neil believes that with several of the committee members now running for office, includ-ing Thatte, it is unlikely any further reforms will be made this semester. “There is talking, but a large potential for nothing getting done,” she said.

Anthony Rentsch can be reached at arentsch@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Anthony_Rentsch.

REFORMS continued from page 1

being in the office five days a week. During his internship, Vigneau worked with about 50 student clients and was responsible for meeting with them and their attorneys. Through that process, he said he became aware of a large problem on campus – the University’s student disci-plinary system. “I would just hear these people and their horrible stories of messing up once and the system was just crushing them, which is actually a huge part of my platform,” Vigneau said. “The student conduct sys-tem doesn’t promote edu-cation and it doesn’t help protect the community like it’s supposed to.” Increasing diversity on campus is also a central component of Vigneau’s campaign. It should be

the biggest issue on the University’s agenda, he said. “Diversity isn’t about color, diversity is about having everybody repre-sented so everybody feels equally (comfortable) to be here,” Vigneau said, add-ing he himself is a first generation college student. “It’s really important … and the administration hasn’t handled it well.” He also hopes to improve the SGA’s work for the student body and student involvement, saying cur-rent approaches are mis-led. “Most people on cam-pus don’t have the time or sometimes the willingness to go out there and advo-cate for what they want and join the SGA and fight for it,” he said, adding that students often need to be prompted to talk about the

issues that are important to them. And Vigneau said he’s been doing just that – approaching students across campus and asking what they care about. “I don’t see this as a political position where I’m taking all of my interests and really driving forward my own agenda,” Vigneau said. “You can’t go in there as a crusader against the Board of Trustees. It’s a board of equals and to get things done is not to go in there and yell and scream and say, ‘Look, you’re not doing the things you’re supposed to be doing.’ It’s to reason with them and present the facts on cam-pus.”

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

VIGNEAU continued from page 3

work as a part of a team,” Giordano said. “And they are widely successful. Not letting student entrepre-neurs and businesses grow means there is no chance to learn.” “The administration is pulling them down,” Mirlay Srinivas said. “(Student businesses) deserve the SGA’s full support.” At the same time, the duo understands that the relationship between the students and the adminis-tration is a precarious one regarding the town-gown relationship. Giordano, who has served as an Amherst town representative, believes the SGA should act as a liaison between students, University administrators and town officials. “We are working toward them giving us (students) freedom and us (students)

respecting that freedom,” Mirlay Srinivas said. Giordano and Mirlay Srinivas’ extensive work with students has also led them to believe that, if elect-ed, they need to play a sig-nificant role in making sure all student voices are heard. One way is to try to increase voter turnout, but this is not their only plan. The duo is especially enthusiastic about spurring further election reform. Reforms that were enacted for this election neglected to address concerns over sena-torial representation strat-egy. “When the SGA makes plans, only a small minor-ity have their voices heard,” Mirlay Srinivas said. “The reforms could go so much further,” Giordano said. “Danny and I would love to see (a representation strategy) by college, not resi-

dential area.” Mirlay Srinivas, an inter-national student from India, sees room for the SGA to further support interna-tional students. If elected, he considers “integrating (international students) into the campus” a priority. Although they share many of the same goals, Giordano and Mirlay Srinivas believe that their strength comes from their ability to balance each other out. “We have the same priori-ties, but we are not in com-plete agreement on every-thing,” Giordano said. “It keeps us on our feet.” “We complement each other,” Mirlay Srinivas added.

Anthony Rentsch can be reached at arentsch@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Anthony_Rentsch.

a part of SGA, she does much of her work outside of the organization. She also works with the Coalition to End Rape Culture and the It’s On Us campaign and meets with Secretary of Diversity Danielle LaRoque one-on-one. One of the main points of their campaign is improved access to the University. “Whether it’s financial access to this university for students, access to resourc-es for students of color once they get here, access to space for (Registered Student Organizations) and student groups or access to the administra-tion, we want to make sure that UMass Amherst is the most accessible place for all students, regardless of age, race, gender, ability, sexual orientation, etc.,” Kelly said. Kelly is also looking to address Title IX and said UMass lacks proper training. She believes there should be better funded resources, such as in the Center for Women and Community and the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health. Kelly has spoken with several resident assis-tants and New Student Orientation counsel-

ors who said they have not been trained enough to know exactly what to do when sexual assault occurs. Kelly hopes to expand training so every first year student will know what consent is and how to prevent sexual assault. Gay has expressed her interest in working with LGBT people of color by collaborating with the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success (CMASS) and the Stonewall Center to make sure issues and concerns are communicated. She also wants to increase awareness of the effects of energy usage and waste, as well as food and environ-mental justice. Kelly and Gay’s cam-paign has a presence on Twitter and Facebook. They have also spoken to students about concerns and issues on campus. “We are going to put ourselves fully into this,” Kelly said. “UMass is work-ing right now, but it’s not working to its fullest poten-tial. We want to change the system so it works, not so it continues.”

Catherine Ferris can be reached at caferris@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Ca_Ferris2.

GIORDANO continued from page 2

KELLY continued from page 2

tute new policies that affect things students pay for or things that directly affect the students, for example, the recent policy regard-ing admission of Iranian national students. According to O’Neil, that doesn’t really happen, or at least not as often as it should. She said the docu-ment is supposed to be updated every five years. “I don’t think it’s been updated since 1993,” she said. In addition, while the student trustee is required to attend SGA meetings but not Graduate Student Senate meetings, O’Neil plans to attend them anyway. As the voice of both undergraduates and graduates students, she believes it’s important for the student trustee to be available to them as well. In her current position, she led a campaign to make it free for students to take summer internships for cred-it, working closely with the Center for Education Policy and Advocacy. She is also a member of the Coalition to End Rape Culture. O’Neil believes Title IX, the federal law that prevents gen-der discrimination at public institutions, has been mishan-dled at UMass. To change this, O’Neil wants to implement a Survivor’s Bill of Rights so that survivors of sexual

assault who choose to report the acts can know what to expect. “Survivors often lose control of their story to the University,” she said about the current policy. O’Neil also seeks to imple-ment an affirmative consent policy supporting a “yes means yes” standard, some-thing that is in the works in the University of California system. O’Neil has played a part in organizing this year’s Public Higher Education Advocacy Day, which will take place March 4. Students will go to the State House and lobby for a tuition freeze, which aligns with the affordability section of O’Neil’s platform. As trustee, O’Neil will push the University to take action on the points outlined in its Diversity Strategic Plan and ask it to go further by giving extra financial support to the groups it praises as making a difference toward diversity. She believes that this will make progress toward her goal of retaining students of color at the university, an area in which she says there is a lot of work to be done. “Ultimately it’s about being transparent to do more effectively and uplifting stu-dent voices,” O’Neil said.

Eleanor Harte can be reached at eharte@umass.edu.

O'NEIL continued from page 3

weekly, as often as I could, in any capacity that I need to because it’s an ever chang-ing issue that keeps involv-ing more and more problems that encompass it,” Thatte said. “If the (Graduate Student Senate) and the graduate student body as a whole need help commu-nicating those, the trustee needs to do that and under-graduate students need to get behind that as well.” He also said proper rep-resentation for groups in general is something that is important to him. “There’s so much that needs to be said and prob-lems that need to be fixed and they’re not being done effectively,” Thatte said. Thatte talked about the plan released by the Diversity Strategic Planning Steering Committee, saying there was work that had to be done because it was not comprehensive enough and did not detail significant points. He added that the lan-guage used in the document did not clearly indicate dif-ferences between racially based discrimination and incidents. Though he under-stands the document is a draft, he hopes there will be continued efforts to shape it. As a legacy student of the University of Massachusetts, Thatte recalled the different

paths members of his fam-ily took. His grandfather was a fellow in the chemis-try department in the 1960s when he came from India along with Thatte’s father, and lived in the Lincoln Apartments. His older brother attend-ed the University from 2001 to 2005 as a microbi-ology student on the pre-med track, while his sister attended from 2005 to 2009 as a political science and art dual major. “For me, I thinking being a part of this trustee posi-tion culminates a lot of what I want to do in my life,” Thatte said. “I want to give back to others in the best way I can.” Thatte said he based his decisions around his parents and how they went through various struggles, such as living in poverty. “Their life was about strugle and perseverance and giving to others,” he said. “That’s what I base my experiences off of.” If Thatte is not elected to the position, he said he would find other ways to contribute. “This is my time to give back to the student body,” he said.

Catherine Ferris can be reached at caferris@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Ca_Ferris2.

THATTE continued from page 3

CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

Former presidential candidate Ellie Miske speaks during last year's debate.

Access to UM DCs limited for Blarney

The reason that there is no change is that there was a lot of talk and no agreement."

Emily Devenney, special assistant to the Diversity and Student

Engagement Committee

Opinion EditorialEditorial@DailyCollegiancomTuesday, March 3, 2015

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After the election debacle last spring in which the candidates receiving the most votes were disqualified on various technicalities, stu-dents met last fall to discuss reforming the

Student Government Association’s election bylaws. I attended a few of the early meetings before it became clear that this election reform group did not envision a fundamental restruc-turing of how student elections work at the University of Massachusetts. Transparency has been a buzzword in stu-dent government for the past year, from a new shared governance agreement between the administration, the SGA and the Graduate Student Senate, to disqualified presidential vote-winner Ellie Miske in last year’s spring election debate, in which she argued for more transparency behind student fee changes and how the University plans to maintain the tuition and fee freeze. Presidential and vice presidential candidates Charlotte Kelly and Sammi Gay include a version of Miske’s pro-posal in their platform. But the election reform process last fall did not succeed, and the SGA Elections Commission still fails basic obligations, such as adequate publicity of the campaign schedule. Election reform weighed heavily on the minds of SGA officers at the beginning of the year. The SGA had just emerged from one of

its most controversial elections ever, throwing out over 1,300 student votes due to travesties like the use of a coupon to print campaign posters, the potential use of a personal printer and campaigning in dormitories without a proper escort. The Elections Commission still counts those invalidated votes in voter turnout statistics. Last October, Anthony Rentsch inter-viewed Senate Speaker Sionan Barrett and Administrative Affairs Committee Chair Kabir

Thatte about the groundwork laid in early elec-tion reform meetings. Both were hopeful that the SGA Senate would enact sweeping changes to election bylaws by the end of the semester. Thatte endorsed a proposal that would move away from apportionment of senate seats by residential area. But few members of the Administrative Affairs committee attended the public elec-tion reform meetings, according to regular members of the group, and by the time the committee had drafted its reforms, many of the group’s proposals had been eliminated or altered significantly.

In place of changes that would have made the Senate more representative, the Administrative Affairs committee sponsored motions that alter the relationship between the Elections Commission and GSS, force elections commissioners to be confirmed by the commit-tee before a vote of the full senate and split the presidential and vice presidential campaigns from that of the University student trustee. Splitting the tickets, according to Thatte, pre-cludes a presidential or vice presidential can-

didate from supporting or endorsing a trustee candidate on any platform, including social media. All of these motions passed and took effect this spring. A measure that institutes campaign finance filing 10 days before campaigning starts and allows candidates to use vendors other than Campus Design and Copy takes effect in spring 2016. Some of the reforms may make problems worse this cycle. Instead of attempting to make election bylaws less restrictive, the Elections Commission seems to be doubling down on heavy enforcement of arcane election bylaws

and minor changes instituted last fall. The splitting of candidates for president and vice president from the student trustee creates a slew of issues. Divya Kirti, chair of the Elections Commission, has said in multiple emails to the candidates and other interested parties that she and the rest of the commission are still grappling with the specifics of the new rules a week into campaigning and only a week before voting starts. Commissioners are currently debating what differentiates a voter from a campaign worker because splitting the tickets means supporters cannot work for both a presidential campaign and a trustee campaign. Many supporters are concerned about voicing support for a trust-ee candidate while working for a presidential campaign and vice versa, fearing they will injure both causes. Last fall, now-presidential candidate Barrett pinned low voter turnout on the fact that “not a lot of people know that elections are going on or … do not understand what SGA does.” In the same piece, now-trustee candidate Thatte said, “The SGA has to figure out why students don’t become involved.” Not having a location until the day of the debate may be the answer.

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

Lack of transparency from Elections Commission endangers spring ballot

The next journalist under fire Ever since NBC News hand-ed a six-month suspension to Brian Williams for his ficti-tious Iraq War story, it seemed as if citizens and news organi-

zations everywhere started to keep a close watch on report-ers. Now that Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly’s credibility has been called into question, it seems that the public has done its homework. O’Reilly has been saying for decades that he covered the Falklands War and saw combat in the process. The problem is that this is not true. Like Williams, O’Reilly took every opportunity to tout his war experience. Aside from the details included in his book, “The No Spin Zone,” which reads, “You know that I am not easily shocked. I’ve reported on the ground in active war zones from El Salvador to the Falklands,” he has gone on to embellish this story further, including in a book written by Tucker Carlson. O’Reilly took a stab at journalist Bill Moyers when Moyers claimed that he touted untrue war stories. “I missed Moyers in the war zones of (the) Falkland con-flict in Argentina, the Middle East and Northern Ireland,” O’Reilly said. “I looked for Bill, but I didn’t see him.” The problem is that we didn’t see O’Reilly there, either. For some reason, O’Reilly feels that if he is on the same continent or in the same coun-try as a conflict that is in the midst of winding down, then he must be front and center – an eye witness, even – covering the action as it unfolds. As the 10-week conflict

was beginning to wind down, O’Reilly and his CBS crew flew into Buenos Aires. On “The Factor” in April 2013, he dis-cussed a time when he was covering combat during the Falklands War and risked death for the sake of the story. His memoir, however, paints a different picture. It leaves out the part where he witnessed any sort of combat. His discus-sion about the fighting he wit-nessed between the Argentines and the British were events he was never present for. Also, the Falkland Islands are located 1,200 miles away from Buenos Aires. What’s more? Only 30 journalists were allowed into the conflict zone,

all of whom were British. And yet O’Reilly continues to claim that he was in the thick of it. “The Factor” is the most watched cable news program in the country. Since the con-troversy began, its ratings have spiked with a little over 700,000 viewers tuning in each night, according to variety.com. It comes as no surprise that O’Reilly’s audience has main-tained its loyalty to the show, given O’Reilly’s constant bash-ing of the “liberal news media” – a topic he revisits week after week. Now that we have seen the rise and fall of Brian Williams, what are we to expect for O’Reilly? Although forgive-ness for Williams is question-able, he admitted his mistakes and apologized for his actions, something O’Reilly has yet to do. On Feb. 18’s program, O’Reilly called the Washington Bureau magazine’s chief David

Corn a “liar.” A response like this is no surprise from a man who comes from an arena where backpedaling and acting on the defensive have become commonplace. In what is perhaps his most famous interview on “The Factor,” O’Reilly slammed then-Congressman Barney Frank, the house financial ser-vices chairman, for his poor handling of the economic cri-sis in 2008, specifically pertain-ing to government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. During the anything but cordial back-and-forth argu-ment, O’Reilly called Frank a coward, saying he wasn’t

“man enough” to admit his w r o n g d o i n g . This is noth-ing more than sheer hypocrisy considering that

O’Reilly railed against Brian Williams and the entire liberal establishment for his false war stories. Perhaps O’Reilly should man-up and admit his own mistakes. As Amy Davidson reported in The New Yorker, this prob-lem goes beyond Fox News. It speaks to a larger insecurity within the journalism world where wars are created and dismantled by the person “cov-ering” the story. These con-flicts go beyond having boots on the ground and are now used for celebrity gain. During an O’Reilly talk-ing points memo on Brian Williams, he said, “If you can’t trust a news anchor or com-mentator then you’re not going to watch that person.” The same should go for watching “The Factor,” only in this case, I never began.

Isaac Simon is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at isimon@umass.edu.

“The election reform process last fall did not succeed, and the SGA Elections Commission still fails basic obligations, such as

adequate publicity of the campaign schedule.”

Zac Bears

Issac Simon

“Although forgiveness for Williams is questionable, he admitted his mistakes and apologized for his

actions, something O’Reilly has yet to do.”

As current and former mem-bers of UMass Jewish Leaders in Business (JLB), Student Alliance for Israel (SAFI) and Hillel, we object to the recent poster equating Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) with terrorist behavior. First and foremost, we utterly reject the methods of the poster. There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of public behavior and press material. We call on the propo-nents of these posters to cease these efforts and engage in meaningful dialogue. Let’s take a moment to rewind to 2011. In 2011, the UMass stu-dents from the Muslim Student Association (MSA), SAFI and JLB went to the United Nations (UN) and presented to Jordan’s UN Ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra’ad, a plan for peaceful economic develop-ment for Palestinians, called Cities of Peace. We need these types of efforts to stop fearing one another, to stop pretending to have power when we are really just afraid, to stop lashing out in anger, to learn to cooperatively solve conflicts. We disagree not just between sides, but among sides: noNo group agrees amongst themselves on viable solutions. The older genera-tions have failed to figure out how to make this work. The younger generation is faced with the choice to follow the same failed methods of their elders, or to commit to a dif-ferent approach that will make the world safer for our children. We need to start here, and start now: why not UMass? Dialogue and cooperative action

is what we need most. Ask ques-tions and respectfully listen with an open mind to the answers. As the generation that can and will change the world, we have to change the approach to problem solving so that we can create a sustainable world that promotes economic and per-sonal well-being for all. So, let’s talk, let’s dialogue; not just two sides, but more sides. Let’s get the emotions out, but hear and focus on the issues. Let’s address power issues, but not just try to overpower each other. Let’s describe the consequences on all sides, but remember that the condemnations, right or wrong, just haven’t worked. Let’s not just talk, but work to change the consequences. We have to get beyond any analysis; we have to take cooperative action. For five years, JLB and MSA worked cooperatively on educa-tional and social programming. We even had Governor Deval Patrick come listen to us. We managed to have cooperating Israelis and Palestinians come to UMass. We reached thousands of students and found fun and understanding together. We are capable of more. We, the young, have to teach the world how cooperative co-existence works. Start here, start now: why not UMass?

Laurie Kamenetsky ‘16Elan Radbil ‘16 Scott Savran ‘14Seth Rotberg ‘13Matt Dornfeld ‘12Scott Nielsen ‘86

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Peace, love and nutrition: Five steps to a healthy diet

By Haley HarzynskiCollegian Correspondent

College is one of the most exciting times in our lives but it can also be one of the most demanding. Students are faced with many challenges ranging from academic workload, social obligations and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Regarding the latter task, what we fuel our bodies with has a major effect on our health. The foods we eat have a dramatic influence on mood, energy and how our brains function. Here are some sim-ple tips I use to maintain a healthy diet: 1. Healthy eating is not about restriction; it is about self-control. If you deprive yourself of all your favorite foods – like french fries or ice cream – you may be putting yourself at risk of overeating when you do indulge. Reward yourself with these treats but remember that moderation is key. It is impor-tant to make overall healthy

choices in your diet, no matter how small, every day. 2. Add more plant-based foods to your diet. Remember this saying: “Grains, beans and greens!” Plant-based foods are full of fiber, which is a substance that benefits your health by keeping you full for longer and cleanses your digestive system. A great way to limit your intake of animal products while increasing plant-based food consumption is to dub every Monday a “Meatless Monday.” This self-pledge reduces your intake of meat, poultry, fish, dairy or eggs per week. If this proves too challeng-ing, you can go with an even more gradual start by avoid-ing meat during at least one meal you normally consume animal products. Adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet will make you feel stronger, increase your energy levels and provide your body with essential vitamins and anti-oxidants. 3. Get creative. I hear many people complain about how they are tired of the same options at the din-

ing hall. Being a vegan, I have especially been forced to use my creativity in choosing what’s for dinner with the lim-ited options available. Have you thought of add-ing hummus and brown rice to your salad? Hummus is a great alternative to a fat-packed dressing like ranch or

Caesar. The iron content in hummus can also help boost your energy level, which could make you more moti-vated to hit the gym. For your source of protein, try adding grilled chicken to your salad one day, tofu the following day and beans the next. Furthermore, ask the

people who make sushi for a handful of avocado to add a healthy source of fat to your meal. Mix things up and be open to trying new things. Be your own chef and create your own menu to fuel your body. 4. Educate yourself about the food you eat and why eat-

ing healthier is good for your overall well-being. A great way to start this research is by visiting the nutrition advisors at the University of Massachusetts Campus Recreation Center. Individual appointments can be made to discuss healthy eating strategies free of charge. You can email umasswellnesscenter@gmail.com to make an appointment with one of its knowledgeable nutrition advisors. 5. Finally, a healthy life is about being kind to yourself. Remember that you are doing the best you can and no one is perfect. It is impossible to create a healthy relationship with food if you are having negative thoughts about your body or while eating. Practice self-love and self-compassion. You have the power to create a healthy life for yourself. You only get one life to create healthy habits − food is medicine and your health is your wealth. Today is the day to work toward creating a healthy relationship with food.

Haley Harzynski can be reached at hharzyns@umass.edu.

Balance temptation with portion control

F O O D

SONNY ABESAMIS/FLICKR

Participate in “Meatless Mondays,” replacing animal products with vegetables in some of your favorite dishes.

Practice pre-test pranayama

By Madeleine JackManCollegian Staff

With the rush of mid-term exams and essays that need to be finished before spring break, this next week and a half is a time of high stress for many students. While some stress is crucial in keeping us moti-vated and focused, over a long period of time, chronic stress wears down the body and mind. It is important to keep this anxiety in check in order to perform and feel our best. Unfortunately, with little sleep and a lot of anxiety, it can be difficult to find the time, energy or means to relax yourself while still juggling everything else life has thrown at you. Of course, positive lifestyle changes, such as exercising regularly, thinking positive-ly and strong time manage-ment skills can all help keep the stress to a minimum. If you are not already in the habit of practicing these, however, and don’t have the time to imple-ment a new lifestyle routine before spring break, simply focusing on your breathing is a fast and easy trick to calm down your body and mind before a big exam, paper or interview. Have you ever noticed yourself breathing differ-ently when afraid or pan-icked? In much the same way, we breathe differently when we are relaxed and calm. When you sleep, for example, your breath is

much deeper and slower than right before you are anticipating asking some-one on a date. Pranayama, or breath-ing exercises, allow you to actively control your breathing, in turn allowing you to more readily control your emotions. Breathing techniques to help you calm down and relax can be done quickly and nonchalantly, making them ideal for a test setting when you feel anxi-ety coming on as the papers are being handed out. The first breathing exer-cise for relaxation is called Sama Vritti, or “equal breathing.” As the name implies, the duration of the inhale and exhale is identical. Choose a number that you will count up to during your breath-ing. If you are just begin-ning this practice, a good number to start off with is four or five. Inhaling through your nose, breathe in for whatev-er duration you set for your-self. Next, exhaling through your nose, breathe out for the same period of time. Repeat for however long you desire, but in a rush, just a few breaths should leave you feeling more relaxed. While you do this exer-cise, it is important to try and focus on your breath itself, allowing your mind to settle. If you are trying to reach a deeper meditative state, you can visualize your breath as it travels through your body. While this breathing can calm you down in a high-stress situation, it is also useful for falling asleep. Counting your breaths has the same effect as counting

sheep, plus the added ben-efit of a relaxed mind and body. Another great breath-ing exercise is called Nadi Shodhana, or alternate nos-tril breathing. This tech-nique provides fast and effective results; however, it is a bit more noticeable than Sama Vritti. Press the thumb of your right hand gently against your right nostril, closing it. Inhale slowly through your open left nostril. Before you exhale, take your thumb off of your right nostril and rotate your hand so that your pinky finger closes off your left nostril. Exhale through the now open right nostril. Inhale again through the right nos-tril, and before exhaling, switch sides. Alternatively, you can take five breaths in and out through the right nos-tril and then the left, rather than switch between each inhale and exhale. After a minute, you should feel calm, yet focused. Throughout the day, try to actively sit with good pos-ture and breathe through your diaphragm, feeling the depth of the breath. This increased flow of oxygen to the body will give you more energy as you study, keeps you more present with the task at hand, and less stressed. So take a deep breath and power through those mid-terms.

Madeleine Jackman can be reached at mjackman@umass.edu.

Breathing tips to quickly de-stress

H E A LT H

Despite menu changes,fast food is still bad for you

By karen kaplanLos Angeles Times

Fast food has gotten a little better for you over the last 18 years except in cases where it’s gotten worse. Among 27 menu items subjected to scrutiny by Tufts University researchers, eight of the offerings contained fewer calories in 2013 than in 1996 and nine contained more. In addition, five of the 18 items tested for sodium content had less of it at the end of the 18-year period and seven had more. The researchers looked up nutritional information for all of the cheeseburgers, french fries, grilled chicken sandwiches and nondiet sodas sold between 1996 and 2013 at three leading fast-food chains. The restaurants weren’t mentioned by name, but one of them was “the top restau-rant on the basis of sales” _ a designation that describes McDonald’s. The other two chains had “similar menu items,” a “national presence” and were “in the top 10 for total U.S. sales revenue” attributes that describe Burger King and Wendy’s. (The researchers, from Tufts’ Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, declined to confirm or deny these identi-ties.) In general, the calo-rie content of similar items varied from chain to chain, the researchers found. For instance, an order of small fries at one of the chains packed 110 more calories than an order of small fries at one

of the other chains. (The one exception to this trend was large-sized orders of fries.) The calorie content of foods also varied over time. An order of small fries at the top chain contained 20 calories more in 2013 than it did in 1996. At the other two chains, the calorie count for small fries rose by 50 and 90 during the same period. The story was about the same with sodium, which var-ied by chain for all menu items except for the small cheese-burgers. If you ordered large fries in 2013, for example, you could be served anywhere from 700 to 1,420 milligrams of sodium per 1,000 calories of potatoes, the researchers dis-covered. All three restaurants saw the amount of trans fat in French fries plummet to “undetectable levels” between 2006 and 2009. That was due to a public health campaign launched by New York City officials against partially hydrogenated oils, and to the people who followed their lead. These oils are handy for food producers because they have a long shelf life, but they’re bad for the body because they raise levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) while lowering levels of HDL cholesterol (the good kind). A typical meal _ a large cheeseburger, large fries and large drink _ at a one of the fast-food joints would make it pretty difficult for a well-meaning person to stick to sensible diet limits, the researchers demonstrated. If you were trying limit your-self to 2,000 calories per day in 2013, that meal would have accounted for well over half of

your daily calories no matter which of the three restaurants you patronized. Depending on the chain, those three items would add up to between 65 percent and 80 percent of your recommended daily cal-ories, the researchers calcu-lated. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture has somewhat detailed calorie recommenda-tions based on age and gender online here.) The Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advise people to eat no more than 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, depending on age and health history. If you ordered your cheeseburg-er meal at the lowest-sodium chain, you’d be consuming 63 percent to 97 percent of your daily sodium in a single sitting. In the highest-sodium chain, that meal would account for 91 percent to 139 percent of your allowable sodium. The cheese-burger alone would account for about 50 percent to 75 per-cent of your daily sodium, the researchers reported. Fast-food chains may seem like an easy target for nutrition experts, but the researchers said their investi-gation was warranted because Americans eat more than one-third of their calories away from home, and about 40 per-cent of those calories come from fast-food establishments. The results appeared in a pair of reports published Wednesday in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, which is published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

F O O D

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIANB6 Tuesday, March 3, 2015 DailyCollegian.com

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How could the world possibly care about what color a dress is when things like terrorism and Jared Leto cutting is hair are news?

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Dinosaur ComiCs By ryan north

niCe Clean Fight By sean Clark

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN Tuesday, March 3, 2015 9DailyCollegian.com

LaRue as the Minutemen’s cap-tain for the second straight sea-son, Power is also LaRue’s room-mate and best friend. Power described how the two immediately clicked when LaRue arrived in Amherst during Power’s sophomore season. Power added that this strong personal bond has helped them develop chemistry as UMass’ captains. “I think we’re both very simi-lar,” Power said. “We both strive to do things the right way in all aspects in the game. “First and foremost, in lead-ing by example, Zack’s always been one of the hardest working guys on the ice and in the gym. As years progressed he slowly became more vocal, especially on the ice. It’s something that guys really respond to.” LaRue said that he fully embraces this role as a vocal lead-er, saying that Power has served as a great model to follow by. He added that on a young team which boasts 10 freshmen, it is impor-tant to have a strong, influential group of experienced upperclass-men. LaRue has been at the forefront of this freshmen development as he has been regularly accompa-nied by first-year linemates. Trento, one of these linemates, recalled how LaRue helped him get accustomed to the collegiate level and taught him how to deal with injury setbacks. “When I broke my knuckles, I was getting down on myself about the fact that I wasn’t able to play,” Trento said. “We just talked about how he had his share of scratches and stuff like that and he just told me to keep battling and keep working hard and things would fall into place. “He was pretty wise in that sense.”

Senior success

Lost among outputs like Dennis Kravchenko’s 30 points and Frank Vatrano’s 17 goals has been LaRue’s quietly impactful senior

campaign. Despite missing a month mid-way through the season due to ill-ness, LaRue finished with career-highs in goals (5) and assists (4). LaRue started the year with four points through four games. A month later on Nov. 7, LaRue had his first multi-goal game of his career with two goals in a 7-1 vic-tory over American International College. With more goals this season than in his past three years com-bined, LaRue said that confidence was key in his heightened point production. “I know what type of player I am, I know what’s going to give me success,” LaRue said. “I’ve never been the type of player who’s worried about points. “I’ve always been the guy who, whatever I have to do for the team, whether that’s blocking shots or throwing a hit, I want to be that guy to do it. So when I started scoring goals in there, it just kind

of upped me a little bit more con-fidence-wise.” Power took notice of LaRue’s more active presence on the score sheet. “Confidence is a really funny thing,” Power said. “Do I think his skills got tremendously better from last year to this year? Not as much. Just the confidence in what he does with the puck and moving through different areas of the ice, you can just tell that he’s more comfortable.” On a UMass roster riddled by injuries this season, especially at the forward position, LaRue said that it was satisfying to provide this scoring from the third line. He added that continuing to boast depth on the lower lines helped mitigate the Minutemen’s injury issues. “You’re being the guy who’s probably not leaned on to score like the first line,” LaRue said. “So when you’re getting production from your lower lines, it’s some-

thing special and something that not every team has.”

One last chance

While LaRue said that he fell in love with the area around Boston during his time at UMass and wants to live in Massachusetts fol-lowing graduation, he noted that he’s unsure about his future in hockey. “If the opportunity arises to play hockey, I would love to do it,” LaRue said. “It’s cliché when people say it, but you’ve got your degree and you’ve got (hockey) so if I get the chance to play, I’d love to do that.” LaRue acknowledged though that UMass may be his last stop in competitive hockey. If that’s the case, LaRue said that he’s ready for it. “I know what could happen,” he said. “I’m ready to move on in my life.” But before LaRue faces this decision, the senior has one last opportunity to lead the Minutemen to its first postseason win in six years. Finishing the regular season at the bottom of the loaded Hockey East, UMass (10-21-2, 5-16-1 HEA) now prepares for a best-of-three series against No. 5 seed Notre Dame in the first round of the con-ference tournament this weekend. While the Fighting Irish swept the Minutemen in December’s two-game series, LaRue said that he is confident UMass can make a run in the tournament. He point-ed to the Minutemen’s second half improvements – in which UMass has gone 6-9-2 – as encourage-ment. “I would’ve liked to have start-ed better, but at the same time, I rather end strong,” LaRue said. “I’d be scared to play against us because when we play the way we know we can, I think we’re a pretty lethal team.”

Anthony Chiusano can be reached at achiusano@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.

LARUE continued from page 10

ALEX LINDSAY/COLLEGIAN

Zack LaRue (above) and Oleg Yevenko serve as alternate captains, while Troy Power is UMass’ primary captain.

TENNIS continued from page 10

going to be able to be very com-petitive in certain situations ... I thought we were going to get another win.” “This is one of those where I’m very happy (about how the team played) in the loss.” Dartmouth (11-0) nearly suf-fered its first loss of the season thanks in part to yet another pair of wins from Yrazusta, who also tacked on a win at the No. 2 sin-gles spot against Katherine Yau (6-3, 7-5). Woosley, who boasts the most singles victories on the team (13), also continued her stellar sopho-more campaign with two wins of her own. Woosley’s first win came at the No. 3 doubles match play-ing alongside Glasper (6-4), while the second came at No. 4 singles, defeating Dartmouth’s Jacqueline Crawford in a dra-matic three-set match (6-4, 4-6, 10-6). Despite securing the doubles point, UMass only pulled out two singles victories and Dartmouth maintained its perfect record.

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

to-back meets. “There’s good momentum going into the spring now and with the performances the indoor ath-letes are putting on, it raises the pressure and urgency for the athletes waiting for the outdoor season to come around,” O’Brien said. “We have to rest now. They’ve done everything they could to this point and we’re pleased with their performances,” LaFreniere said. “It’s back off time now.”

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

NEC’S continued from page 10

@MDC_SPORTS Sports@DailyCollegian.comTuesday, March 3, 2015

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

By Anthony ChiusAnoCollegian Staff

Zack LaRue doesn’t think very long when asked to recall his

most meaningful memory in a Massachusetts hockey uniform. Despite playing in 97 career games, the senior has one recollection that stands above all others. “My one memory would be my sophomore year scor-ing a goal against Maine,” LaRue said without hesita-tion. On Feb. 23, 2013, the Minutemen hosted the Black Bears in a late-sea-son matchup. In attendance among the 3,127 fans at the Mullins Center was LaRue’s grandmother, who had been recently diagnosed with cancer. “The doctor told her she could make one more trip before she passed and she decided to come watch me play hockey one more time,” LaRue said. Inspired by her visit, LaRue clinched UMass’ 5-2 victory in the third period with the deciding goal. Tied 2-2 two minutes, 50 seconds into the final frame, LaRue started a late rally by tak-ing advantage of a rebound opportunity in front of the net to beat Maine goalie Martin Ouelette for his sec-ond career goal. Two years later, LaRue said he still perfectly remem-bers the sequence of plays leading up to the goal and looks back on the game as

one of his proudest achieve-ments. “When I scored that goal it was just like it was meant to be,” LaRue said. “It was the best moment of my life and the best goal I’ve ever scored.”Although recog-nized primarily for his work ethic instead of his point production – he has eight

goals in his collegiate career – LaRue’s emotional goal against Maine is the finest example of him seizing the most out of his opportuni-ties with the Minutemen. Now, heading into the twilight of his UMass career, LaRue hopes to take full advantage of his final shot at postseason success

with the Minutemen.

‘Guys listen to him’

Ask any of LaRue’s team-mates or coaches about his contributions and the first attribute almost always brought up is his work ethic. “He’s a hard worker,” freshman Dominic Trento

said. “Work ethic is always something that you can fol-low. He’s always trying to do the little things to make us better and he really buys into the system of what the coaches are trying to say.” This commitment paid off for LaRue prior to the 2014-15 season when he was named one of UMass’ alter-

nate captains, joining fellow senior Oleg Yevenko in the role. “It’s obviously a great honor to be named an alter-nate captain to this team,” LaRue said. “All the guys have bought in and they’ve helped me too. Just being named a captain is just hard work paying off for me.” According to Minutemen coach John Micheletto, LaRue’s consistency on and off the ice during his first three seasons led to a seam-less transition into his new official title. “His leadership style was always born out of his work ethic first and foremost and he has a lot of respect from his teammates,” Micheletto said. “He keeps himself in fantastic shape and always shows up at the rink ready to work hard, so guys respect him and really like him as a person.” Micheletto added that the biggest addition to LaRue’s leadership style this season has been his development as a more vocal presence. While Micheletto said LaRue isn’t known for delivering fiery speeches, he said that the senior’s words resonate among the team. “Not that he’s a real rah-rah guy but when he does speak, guys listen to him,” Micheletto said. Redshirt senior Troy Power can attest to LaRue’s evolvement as one of UMass’ leaders. Working alongside

H O C K E Y

THE EVOLUTION OF A LEADERNamed an alternate captain in his senior season, Zack LaRue takes his opportunistic ways into

his final Hockey East tournament.

ALEX LINDSAY/COLLEGIAN

Zack LaRue (right) celebrates with family on Senior Night Feb. 21. LaRue has five goals and four assists in 28 games this season.

Minutewomen finish 5th at New Englands

By niCk souzACollegian Staff

The still-depleted Massachusetts women’s track and field team man-aged to take fifth at the New England Regional Championships in a field of 35 teams. Northeastern University took home gold in both the men’s and women’s championship. The women’s team entered the meet at an imme-diate disadvantage in the field events as Becky Stoyle missed the event due to inju-ry and Courtney Kromko – who won Most Outstanding Field Event in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships less than a week ago – was limited to one event. Despite the hole left in the field events, the team put up 52 points, giving them a top-five finish. According to UMass coach Julie LaFreniere, injuries aren’t uncommon after athletes compete in multiple back-to-back meets. “A lot of athletes shine in A-10s and sacrifice their bodies and as a result they get to New Englands pretty banged up,” LaFreniere said. “But overall I’m happy with the performances, especial-ly against competition this stiff.” At a meet that included teams from several differ-ent conferences and all three divisions in college track and field, the Minutewomen

still put up several strong performances. The distance medley relay team comprised of Rachel Hilliard, Heather MacLean, Krista Webb and Carly Zinner took second with a time of 11:38.98, breaking the old school record of 11:49.37 set in 2010. The team was beat out in the last leg of the relay by Maryann Gong of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a perfor-mance that even impressed LaFreniere. “After the race I went over and shook her hand – we had a lead going into the last leg and she steadily closed the gap and it wasn’t because our runner was going slow,” LaFreniere said. In the field events, Ashley Palmer attempted to replace Stoyle and Kromko, finish-ing first in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump. Kromko finished fourth in the long jump in the one event she participated in. Hilliard stood out on the track, coming within .2 seconds of setting a New England Championship meet record with a first place finish of 2:07:24. She also fin-ished second in the mile with a time of 4:55.

Minutemen take another step forward

The men’s team entered the meet with a slightly dif-

ferent frame of mind than the women’s team. UMass coach Ken O’Brien’s plan heading into the meet didn’t focus on the final score as much as the on-track performances. His team finished 20th overall but managed to squeeze out 11 points in a deep 32-team field. “We’re a pretty young team that needed experience at a big championship meet,” O’Brien said. “We had a mix-ture of juniors and sopho-mores for the most part run-ning over the weekend”. The distance medley relay team, comprised of Michael McNaughton, Patrick Farnham, Stephen Ness and Cory Thomas, broke a 40-year program record with a time of 9:51.42, earning them a fourth-place finish. The Minutemen also ben-efited from the 4x800 relay team of Ben Groleau, Alex Finestone, McNaughton and Ness, which also finished fourth. In the Heptathlon, senior Greg Copeland fin-ished in eighth place with a score of 4,566 points. Both the UMass men’s and women’s teams are look-ing ahead to the ECAC cham-pionships next weekend. However, both teams feel the need to step back this week with the indoor season wind-ing down and the athletes coming off of a difficult back-

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

By Arthur hAydenCollegian Staff

The duo of Ana Yrazusta and Carol Benito took home two more wins this week-end in the No. 1 doubles spot for the Massachusetts tennis team, spearheading a UMass squad that is one of the hot-test teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Minutewomen took on Fordham Sunday in their first conference match of the young spring season. Yrazusta and Benito, as they have all year, set the tone for the afternoon defeating Fordham seniors Sarah Ali and Elliesa Ball in the No. 1 doubles match, (8-4). UMass went on to sweep doubles play, securing wins from Arielle Griffin and Aarzoo Malik (8-2) as well as Chanel Glasper and Anna Woosley (8-0). Yrazusta continued to carry her doubles domi-nance over to singles, win-ning at the No. 2 spot, (6-2, 7-6). The win was her fifth in a row and gives her an over-all singles record of 12-6 on the season. Griffin, Benito and Glasper all won their singles matches as well, lift-ing the Minutewomen (5-3) to a 5-2 victory against the Rams (4-2). “I wouldn’t say we played our best,” UMass coach Judy Dixon said. “(Fordham) comes with no pressure and swinging away. They become

very dangerous.” “It was a really good win and it’s nice to be able to rely on other people...In that way it was a really good team effort.” The win gives the pairing of Yrazusta and Benito a 15-5 record on the season with a 7-1 mark in dual match-es. Dixon knows what an incredible asset she has with her doubles pairing. “Carol brings a lot of maturity,” said Dixon of the junior transfer, who for-mally played for nationally-ranked Tulsa. “She knows what it’s like to be in a big-time program.” Dixon added: “Ana brings the sort of exuberance that you need ... Between the two of them, one who’s the steadying influence and the other one who brings a lot of energy, those two have been really critical in instilling that kind of (message). We’re not afraid of anybody.”

With the victory, UMass remains unbeaten at home this season. The Minutewomen’s next match will take them to Providence, Rhode Island, where they take on Providence Friday at 6 p.m.

Minutewomen barely edged by Dartmouth

Despite a victory from Yrazusta and Benito over Dartmouth University’s nationally-ranked No. 1 doubles pairing of Taylor Ng and Kristina Mathis, the No. 22 Big Green narrow-ly escaped with a 4-3 win over the Minutewomen last Thursday in Hanover, New Hampshire. “I was really pleased,” Dixon said about the Minutewomen’s competi-tiveness. “This team really believes that they can beat anybody...We knew we were

T E N N I S

see LARUE on page 9

UM splits weekend matches

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

Anna Woosley serves in a match against Fordham last Friday.

see TENNIS on page 9see NEC’S on page 9

Singles play falters against Big Green