DailyCollegian.comTuesday, February 3, 2015

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A community of hula-hoopers

By Marie MaccuneCollegian Staff

Audrey D’Zmura was not necessarily looking for a community of hula-hoopers when she went to practice hula-hooping outside of her dorm her freshman year. But when someone walked by and shouted, “Hey, we have a club for that,” she found the UMass Hula Hoop Collective. Three years later, D’Zmura is now president of the Registered Student Organization and is con-tinuing her passion for the flow-art form. The collective has been a presence on the University of Massachusetts campus for almost five years now, but only became an RSO this past semester. It is run by four other officers besides

D’Zmura: Annie Conant, the vice president, Chloe Doe, treasurer and Hannah Helfner, who serves as sec-retary. Despite these official positions, the collective is not run like a typical club.

As D’Zmura put it, “I’m the president of it, but the whole idea of it being a col-lective is that everybody participates.” She explained the basics of the collective, saying, “We all just get together, lis-

ten to music and hula-hoop in a room full of mirrors (in the Recreation Center) – so it’s pretty awesome.” “Basically it’s all about learning different tricks and how to control the hula-hoop

PERI reports min. wage increase won’t cost jobs

By Stuart FoSterCollegian Staff

The University of Massachusetts Political Economic Research Institute (PERI) published an online report, titled, “A $15 U.S. Minimum Wage: How the Fast-Food Industry Could Adjust Without Shedding Jobs,” which details how a raise in the national minimum wage could be implemented with-out causing significantly lower employment or profit in the fast food industry. Currently, the national minimum wage stands at $7.25 an hour. Robert Pollin, co-direc-tor of PERI and one of the paper’s authors, said the fast food industry was cho-sen because the impact of a wage increase on that industry would be more

intense than any other because of the high number of low-wage workers. “If you can come up with a path (to increase wages) in the fast food industry through which you don’t see jobs being shed, then it’s the same process, just more easily, for other industries,” he said. The study found that in order to prevent large unemployment rates as a result of a minimum wage increase, the process would have to occur over a four year period. “We came up with a plan where in the first year they could raise the minimum wage to $10.50 and then over the next three years the industry would just stay with that minimum wage,” said Jeannette Wicks-Lim, an assistant research pro-fessor at PERI and the other principal author of the paper. “The industry would con-

Fast food industry used as example

Eastern United States hit by another snow storm By Michael MuSkal

Los Angeles Times

It didn’t take a groundhog to predict six more weeks of winter as the second major storm in a week created near whiteout conditions in much of New England on Monday after dumping more than a foot and a half of snow in the Chicago region and spread-ing a blanket of thick snow through the Midwest. The storm was expected to bring up to 16 inches of fresh snow to the Boston area, when the precipitation stops on Monday, Groundhog Day, less than 24 hours after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl. Boston offi-cials on Monday announced that the victory parade would be held on Tuesday, proving

that the post office is not the only institution to brave snow, sleet and rain. The latest storm cut a wide swath through the Midwest, bringing 19.3 inches to Chicago, the city’s fifth-larg-est storm ever. About 2,400 customers remained with-out power Monday morning, down from the 51,000 who lost electricity when the storm began. More than 5,300 flights have been canceled from Sunday through Monday because of the storm, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Schools in states across the upper tier of the nation were closed. Four deaths related to traffic or shoveling were reported in Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Detroit reported its larg-est snowfall in four decades. The National Weather Service said 16.7 inches fell at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus on Sunday and Monday, the third-largest storm ever and the largest since a 19.3-inch storm in December 1974. Also in Michigan, the Battle Creek area got 12 to 18 inches and Ann Arbor, 14.1 inches. From the Midwest, the storm churned its way East, bringing six to 10 inches to the Buffalo region and eight to 14 inches in the Albany area. In downstate New York, Long Island, especially hit hard last week, was bracing for an additional three to five inches.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned residents of snow and ice, but the output was expected to be less than last week when nine to 15 inches fell on different parts of the city. A blizzard brought up to three feet of snow to some parts of Massachusetts last week. On Monday, the state planned to work a normal day despite predictions of up to 16 more inches of snow. Schools in many areas includ-ing Boston were closed. “We are very concerned about this current storm and its implications. Working with city departments and our pri-vate partners, we will take every precaution necessary to keep our residents safe,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “I ask

that every Boston resident look out for their neighbor, whether it be in the home next door, or on our city’s streets.” “I’d encourage everyone to stay off the roads today,”

Walsh said. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil reportedly saw his shad-ow, indicating six more weeks of winter, according to legend.

W.E.B. Du Bois Center getsfirst director since founding

By anthony rentSchCollegian Staff

The W.E.B. Du Bois Center at the University of Massachusetts Libraries has appointed Whitney Battle-Baptiste as its first director since its founding in 2009. Jay Schafer, director of the UMass Libraries, said there have been a couple of people who served as the head of the center in its first six years, including Robert Cox, who was the interim director since 2011. According to Schafer, Battle-Baptiste could help the center become a fixture on campus. “Ever since the center was founded, I don’t think

that we have lived up to our potential,” Schafer said. “Under (Battle-Baptiste’s) leadership, I think we will come to realize our true potential and contribute to campus conversations as well as national and inter-national ones.” “The center functions as a research center, pro-moting scholarship, but I want it to be more than that,” Battle-Baptiste said. “I want faculty to see the center as more than it has been. I would like to bring the center to the conscious-ness of UMass.” An associate professor of anthropology, Battle-Baptiste has been at the University since the center was founded and sat on its executive board. She sees this as a unique chance to expand her research.

Battle-Baptiste said she is a historical archaeologist who “specializes in African American domestic spac-es.” She has excavated a plantation in Tennessee, the Andrew Jackson home site in Virginia and a plan-tation in the Bahamas, as well as the Du Bois home site in Great Barrington. She does this with an eye toward “social change and justice,” according to Schafer. In the short term, Battle-Baptiste hopes to open up the home site so that more people can see the more than 10,000 arti-

President releases $4 trillion budget for FY16

By liSa MaScaro and kathleen henneSSey

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama released a $4-trillion budget Monday with liberal priori-ties that have little chance of passage but will serve as an initial foray in negotiations with the new Republican Congress and help define the Democratic Party in the run-up to the 2016 presidential race. The administration’s annual federal budget, like those that will follow from the House and Senate, is a largely aspirational blueprint, even more so in Obama’s final term. This budget, ending in

September 2016, is the last one the president will still be in office to fully execute. There are several factors working in his favor this year, including a strengthening economy, a falling deficit and rising public approval of the administration. The president’s budget focuses on bolstering the federal government’s role in shaping opportunities for ordinary Americans, an effort he’s dubbed “middle-class economics.” With defi-cits projected to be the lowest since he took office, Obama proposes reversing $74 bil-lion in so-called sequestration cuts to government programs that the White House and Congress reluctantly agreed to almost four years ago. The White House also announced a $478 billion pub-lic-works program to fund

new roads, bridges and high-ways, paid for by a one-time tax on corporate profits held overseas. That idea has some bipartisan support. More broadly, howev-er, the president intends to champion liberal ideas that are designed to narrow the nation’s income inequality, asking the biggest financial corporations and wealthi-est Americans to shoulder a larger tax burden to help the government provide basics like universal preschool and free community college. Revenue would be raised from new taxes, including one on the nation’s 50 larg-est financial firms and oth-ers aimed at inheritance and trust funds. That would help pay for tax breaks for middle-class households, including

MCT

Dominic Guiliano shovels a sidewalk in Conneticut during Monday’s snow storm.

see HOOP on page 2

COURTESY OF ANNIE CONANT

Members of the UMass Hula Hoop Collective practice at the Rec Center on Jan. 30.

see DU BOIS on page 2

UMass Hula Hoop Collective welcomes participants of all abilites and experience

Battle-Baptiste to put Center in spotlight

see BUDGET on page 2

Proposal reflects liberal priorities

PAGE 5PAGE 8

BOB DYLANTAKES ONSINATRA

BUNKERED DOWNHow the MullinsMilitia came to be

see WAGE on page 2

She sees this as a unique chance to

expand her research.

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

T H E R U N D OW N

ON THIS DAY...In 1690, the

Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first paper money in the

Americas.

HONG KONG China warned

President Barack Obama

to avoid appearing with

the exiled Tibetan spiri-

tual leader Dalai Lama

later this week at a

prayer meeting, saying it

amounted to unwanted

meddling.

“We strongly oppose

any country using the

Tibetan matter to inter-

fere in China’s internal

affairs,” Foreign Ministry

spokesman Hong Lei told

reporters at a regular

briefing on Monday in

Beijing. “We strongly

oppose any state leader

to meet with the Dalai

Lama in any manner.”

Hong’s message comes

amid news reports that

Obama and the Dalai

Lama will appear at the

annual National Prayer

Breakfast on Feb. 5 in

Washington.

Bloomberg News

France Former International

Monetary Fund chief

Dominique Strauss-

Kahn faced another

humiliating day in a

court Monday when he

appeared on charges

accusing him of procur-

ing sex workers for an

international prostitu-

tion ring operating out of

luxury hotels in Europe

and the United States.

The case, dubbed the

“Carlton Affair” after

the luxury hotel in the

northern city of Lille,

where authorities say the

prostitution network was

based, has riveted France

and stirred debate about

the extent to which the

personal lives of public

figures should remain

private.

Los Angeles Times

South Africa After more than a year

of fighting that nearly

split the world’s newest

country, leaders of South

Sudan’s fractured ruling

party agreed Monday to

form a transitional gov-

ernment.

The deal, which also

reaffirms a cease-fire

reached last month, is

the latest of several the

sides have reached and

then broken. But the

parties said they were

committed to reaching

specifics of the new pow-

er-sharing government

by March 5.

Los Angeles Times

A R O U N D T H E WO R L D

COURTESY OF ANNIE CONANT

Hula-hoopers practice jumping through their hoops, a popular trick.

HOOP continued from page 1

DU BOIS continued from page 1

on different places on your bodies … Or off your body with different isolations and tosses and jumps and sort of combining all of the tricks,” she continued. “Once you practice them enough and feel comfort-able with it, they really flow together really nicely and that’s when it really becomes flow–art — like a dance form.” Being a collective, D’Zmura said that there’s a lot of cooperation involved in the group. “It’s a good communi-ty,” she said. “The hula-hoop community in gen-eral is a very welcoming and accepting community and you see a lot of peo-ple on social media, like Instagram and YouTube, posting videos of them-

selves doing tricks and that’s sort of the world wide community.” Here at UMass, she added, “We all help each other out and teach each other new tricks or sometimes we’ll have a routine and do a little performance.” The collective helps to bring hoopers together on campus and improve their skills. “When I came to school here and found out they had a club, it made a huge difference to watch and practice with other peo-ple,” she said. According to D’Zmura, the membership fluctu-ates with seniors gradu-ating and new members joining, but there can be anywhere between three and 10 people at any given practice session. She per-sonally first got involved in hula hooping when she saw girls using LED hula-hoops at a music festival before coming to UMass. Since then, D’Zmura said, “Nothing’s been the same.” In terms of where members get their hoops, D’Zmura said that while she and the officers bring multiple to their practices for everyone to use, most

members have their own. “Once you start getting into it, you want your own to practice at home,” she said. “And then there’s differences in the size of diameter of the hula-hoop, the diameter of the tub-ing and the material of the tubing. There’s a lot of differences that come into play there. So, sort of as you progress, you get your preferences and start collecting more of them – soon enough you have a bunch of them in the cor-ner of your room.” D’Zmura admits she has a least 10 of her own, some of which she made herself. She added that her favorite thing about prac-

ticing hooping is, “When you are on campus and you can slow down and take it easy and just feel relaxed, hanging out with cool peo-ple and just having fun. Especially because you don’t necessarily get that when you’re on campus.” “It’s very meditative if you let it be,” she added.Fo r students interested in joining, D’Zmura said “Anyone is welcome when-ever. We bring hoops of all shapes and sizes that would be good for begin-ners. We’ll bring doubles so you can do tricks with two at a time. There’s basically always someone there who is experienced enough to help a beginner out and teach them some basic tricks.” According to D’Zmura, updates on practice times and videos for hooping inspiration can be found on their Facebook page, UMass Hoop Collective. “Everyone should come try it out, it’s a lot of fun,” she said.

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

facts that are currently in Machmer Hall and the Du Bois papers, a collec-tion of more than 100,000 pieces of correspondence, according to the library’s website. Over time she hopes that the center can enter into meaningful conversa-tions on campus and on a national scale, especially by bringing in scholars with fellowships, keeping up the annual Friends of Du Bois campaign, host-ing lectures and otherwise collaborating in student affairs issues. “I want to bring people together to talk,” Battle-Baptiste said. Talking about the Du Boisian way of thinking

is especially important for Battle-Baptiste and Schafer. “Du Bois was a signifi-cant intellectual figure of the 20th century,” Schafer said. “We are dedicated to explore and promote all concepts of Du Boisian philosophy.” “There is so much Du Bois can teach us,” Battle-Baptiste said. “I want stu-dents to know that Du Bois is more than the name of the on-campus library.”

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

“We all help each other out and teach each other new tricks or sometimes we’ll have a

little performance.” Audrey D’Zmura,

president of the UMass Hula Hoop Collective

a $500 second-earner tax credit, expansions of both the college tuition credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit, and additional tax credits of up to $3,000 per child. An administration offi-cial said 44 million house-holds would see their taxes cut by an average of $600 a year. “We believe that this budget shows how we can implement the presi-dent’s vision for middle-class economics and put the good of middle-class families and our economy front and center, while also continuing progress on restoring fiscal disci-pline,” the official said. “You don’t have to choose between those two things. You can in fact accomplish both.” Obama’s budget details $3.99 trillion in spending and collects $3.52 trillion in revenue, running a defi-cit of $474 billion, the offi-cial said. Even before the budget ’s release, its con-tours were quickly dis-missed by Republicans in Congress, who see little reason to yield to the White House after expand-ing their ranks in the last election to control both chambers of Congress. “What I think the presi-dent is trying to do here is to, again, exploit envy economics,” said Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “This top-down redistribution doesn’t

work. We’ve been doing it for six years.” For Republicans, new taxes are generally a non-starter, even as a trade-off for reversing Pentagon cuts that many GOP defense hawks warn are hurting military readi-ness at a time of increased threats from abroad. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, calls the sequestration cuts “mind-lessness” - a word the White House also uses. But he also declared Obama’s proposed tax increases “DOA.” The president defended his plan in an interview with NBC before the Super Bowl. “My job is to present the right ideas, and if the Republicans think they have better ideas, then they should present them. But my job is not to trim my sails,” he said. The Republican pref-erence is for continued austerity and lower taxes, which will probably be reflected in their own bud-get plans expected next month. To boost Pentagon spending as defense hawks want, their budgets are expected to slash more deeply into food stamps, health care and other safe-ty-net programs. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the House Budget Committee chairman, promised Sunday on Fox News that a Republican budget would re-imagine Medicare, Medicaid and

Social Security, and “will do what the American peo-ple have to do with their homes and in their busi-nesses every single day - and that’s not spend more money than what comes in.” Republicans contend this combination of lower taxes and reduced spend-ing will cut the nation’s still-climbing $18 tril-lion debt load and trigger greater growth through private investment. “The president thinks that we get economic growth from an ever-big-ger government, and that’s exactly backward,” said Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), who led the con-servative Club for Growth before joining the Senate. “We cannot abandon fis-cal discipline. There are individual areas that we need to look at very close-ly, but overall we need to maintain the fiscal disci-pline we have. It is the way we’ve managed to make some progress on deficits, but we are not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.” At some point, though, the heady debates will bump into the practical reality of governing. Built-in deadlines will force both sides to the negotiat-ing table this year, or set the federal government on a trajectory of shutdown threats that have permeated the last few years.

BUDGET continued from page 1

tinue to grow as the economy grows and then in the fourth year they would bring the wage up to $15 an hour,” she said. Even workers mak-ing more than $15 an hour would be affected, according to the study, as a minimum wage increase would create a ripple effect for all workers within the industry. These ripple wage increases were added to PERI’s calcula-tions. The loss in revenue cre-ated by implementing this policy would turn out to be roughly $30 billion, or 14 percent of its sales profits, according to the paper. The paper found three primary ways through which the industry could cover this loss. One method was prices, which could increase by three percent per year over the four years this plan would be implemented. “The example I think helps people is if you had a $4.50 Big Mac,” Wicks-Lim said. “By the time you get to the end of four years, you’re looking at a little over $5 for a Big Mac.”

“It won’t feel like a lot over four years,” she added. Another method that would increase revenue is lower turnover, or the rate by which a company’s employ-ees need to be replaced. “People will stay on the job longer, the morale will be higher, and that’s real money,” Pollin said. “Businesses lose money when people quit and they have to re-train, and with lower turnover they’re able to reduce (the loss).” Revenue loss would also be covered by the growth of the economy which “more or less grows along the same lines as the fast food indus-try,” Pollin said. “So when the economy is growing, some of the increased reve-nue generated by mere eco-nomic growth can be used to cover their increased costs.” The paper principally used data from the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as studies by Daniel Aaronson of the Chicago Federal Reserve. Wicks-Lim said the best influences are living wage increases for determining

how consumers respond to fast food price increases. Pollin felt that fast food companies would be “com-pletely unwilling” to initi-ate these wage increases and that “unless it’s done by government mandate, they won’t do it.” While Pollin said it certainly won’t hap-pen at a federal level as a result of Republican con-gressional control, he saw positive signs that change was occurring at the state and municipality level. Wicks-Lim also men-tioned Seattle, Washington’s recent passage of a $15 min-imum wage and that trends of wage increases across the country would continue to occur within municipali-ties, even if it is not nation-wide. Wicks-Lim and Pollin submitted the paper for publication at the Eastern Economic Journal. It is also currently avail-able at the Political Economic Research Institute’s website.

Stuart Foster can be reached at sfoster@umass.edu.

WAGE continued from page 1

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

Senate turns to immigration amid shutdown rhetoricBy Niels lesNiewski

CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON — As Senate Democrats praised the GOP majority for a new era of open-ness, they were already prepar-ing for an abrupt turn when the chamber’s attention focuses on immigration. “What we have seen over the last several weeks is the Senate I remember, the Senate I was elect-ed to, the Senate where there was active debate, deliberation, amendments,” Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin said on the Senate floor. “For some members, it is a new experience. I hope in our role as the minority we can work with the senators with a feeling of mutual respect to achieve at least debate on the floor, if not some significant leg-islation.” The Illinois Democrat, who has played the role of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s foil on the floor in the absence of Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., expanded on that point in a con-versation with reporters. He said that other than one “Thursday night massacre” - an evening ses-sion that had Democrats crying foul about debate time - the pro-cess had worked well. “It’s no fun being in the minor-ity, and I hope it ends soon, but

as long as we’re in the minority, I think we should try to be con-structive,” Durbin said, adding that during the pipeline debate, Democrats “didn’t use the tactics that had been institutionalized under the Republican minority.” One of the GOP’s favorite chess moves from its time in the minor-ity is expected to return Tuesday afternoon, however. Democrats are planning to block proceed-ing to a House-passed Homeland Security appropriations bill that would also negate President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration. It’s a turnabout from a few months ago, when Democrats were in charge and railed against Republicans whenever they would vote to block debate on a bill. “Our goal is to keep the Democrats united, and make it clear to Sen. McConnell and the Senate Republicans that this House approach is unacceptable,” Durbin said on a Jan. 30 confer-ence call, pointing to support from Democrats for a clean Homeland Security funding bill from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. “The Republicans are more frightened by DREAMers than they are by ISIS,” Durbin said in a reference to children brought here illegally by their parents.

“They are not concerned about whether or not the Department of Homeland Security is funded.” The talking point is a close cousin of one used on Jan. 29 by the No. 3 Democratic leader, Charles E. Schumer of New York. “It seems our Republican col-leagues are willing to shut down the government despite the fact that we have such security needs here in this country,” Schumer said. “They dislike DREAMers more than they dislike ISIS, and it’s just unbelievable.” But the decision by Senate Democrats to filibuster taking up the House bill could leave them more exposed to criticism that they would be responsible if DHS funding dries up at the end of February, leaving Border Patrol agents and many others at the department wondering when they will get their paychecks. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the new chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee that oversees immigration, offered a window into that line of attack last week on the Senate floor. “The Democrats are saying we’re not even going to go to this bill that would fund homeland security?” Sessions asked, high-lighting a CQ Roll Call report from Jan. 29. “Sen. McConnell is saying you can have your rel-

evant amendments, and if you don’t like the language the House put in that says the money can only go to lawful activities, you can offer an amendment to take it out, but if you don’t have the votes, you lose. That’s the way the system should work.” McConnell made a brief appearance on the floor on Jan. 30 that included setting the pro-cedural gears in motion for the Tuesday afternoon test vote, say-ing he saw “no reason” for his Democratic counterparts to stop the process dead in its tracks. “It’s a debate that will chal-lenge our colleagues on the other side with a simple proposition: Do they think presidents, of either party, should have the power to simply ignore laws they don’t like?” McConnell asked. “Will our Democrat colleagues work with us to defend key democratic ide-als like separation of powers and the rule of law, or will they stand tall for the idea that partisan exercises of raw power are good things?” The Democratic caucus proved its power as a minority recently, when enough Democrats voted to turn back McConnell’s bid to limit debate on the pipeline leg-islation, a move they thought was premature. But after a slew of additional amendments, the bill

reached its inevitable conclusion, having more than 60 supporters. The dynamic is different with immigration, because, as written, the underlying bill doesn’t have the votes to break a filibuster. And opponents of the bill got new ammunition on Jan. 29, even set-ting aside complaints about the effect on recipients of deferred action, with the Congressional Budget Office reporting that the bill’s immigration provisions would increase the deficit. A bid to move around the immigration standoff would face no shortage of opposition from conservatives such as Sen. Ted Cruz, though. “My view is that Republicans need to honor the commitments we made to the voters to stop President Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional amnesty,” the Texas Republican told CQ Roll Call. “For several months now, I’ve called for us to every con-stitutional check and balance we have to rein in the president’s illegal action.” While Cruz was focused on the confirmation process for attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch during that brief interview, he did add that the GOP “should use the power of the purse, the most potent authority that Congress has.”

Christie favors parental choice

By DaviD lauterTribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has previously courted controversy with actions on public health, walked into another dispute Monday by saying he favored “choice” for parents on what vaccines to provide their children. Democrats went on the attack immediately, with a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee accusing Christie of pandering to the “radical, conspiracy theory base” of the Republican Party. The governors office quick-ly moved to clarify Christies remarks, while insisting that his opponents were distorting his views. The dispute began with a reporters question in London, where Christie was visiting a pharmaceutical company, part of an overseas trade mis-sion that also serves as a way to buff up the governors for-eign policy credentials for his widely expected presidential bid. “Theres a debate going on right now in the United States, the measles outbreak thats been caused in part by people not vaccinating their kids,” the reporter noted. “Do you think Americans should vaccinate their kids? Is the measles vac-cine safe?” Christie responded that he

and his wife had gotten their four children vaccinated. “Thats the best expression I can give you of my opinion,” he said. “But I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well, so thats the balance that the government has to decide.” “It depends on what the vaccine is, what the disease type is and all the rest,” he said. “You have to have that balance in considering paren-tal concerns because no par-ent cares about anything more than they care about protect-ing their own childs health.” “Not every vaccine is creat-ed equal and not every disease type is as great a public health threat as others,” he added. Christie never responded directly to the question about measles and left unclear which vaccines he was referring to. New Jersey has more strin-gent vaccination requirements than many other states. It is one of only a handful of states, for example, that require chil-dren to get the flu vaccine in order to attend preschools. In 2009, when Christie first ran for governor, he ques-tioned the flu requirement and also wrote a letter in which he pledged to “stand with” par-ents who had “expressed their concern over New Jerseys highest-in-the-nation vaccine mandates.” Democrats quickly accused Christie of siding with those who question the safety of the measles vaccine and con-trasted his remarks with those of President Barack Obama,

who had answered a question about the issue in an interview over the weekend with NBCs Savannah Guthrie. “I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations. The science is pretty indisputable. Weve looked at this again and again,” Obama said. “There is every reason to get vaccinated. There arent reasons to not get vaccinat-ed,” he added. “You should get your kids vaccinated.” Christies aides quickly issued a clarification. “The governor believes vac-cines are an important pub-lic health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated,” they said in a statement issued by the gover-nors office. “At the same time different states require differ-ent degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones gov-ernment should mandate.” Christie made headlines on public health last October when he ordered a nurse, Kaci Hickox, put into involuntary quarantine for four days after she had returned from treat-ing Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. After extensive controver-sy, Christie allowed Hickox to return to her home in Maine. She was later found not to have Ebola.

NJ gov. is against required vaccination

Opinion EditorialEditorial@DailyCollegiancomTuesday, February 3, 2015

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GRAPHICS DESK EDITOR - James Desjardin

Anthony ChiusanoAndrew Cyr

Ross Gienieczko Christina Yacono

Comics Editor - Tracy KrugOp/Ed Producer - Claire Anderson

COMICS

News Producer - Christina Yacono Sports Producer - Marc Jean-LouisArts Producer - Robert Rigo

t h e m a s s a c h u s e t t s D a i ly C o l l e g i a n

Kate Leddy

GRAPHICS ASSISTANTS

Avery CampbellCaroline O’Connor

Social Media Coordinators - Charlotte Hoff | Ariel KallenbachSOCIAL MEDIA

Noa Barak

Anthony Rentsch

Students, police deserve credit for peaceful celebration Students gathered peace-fully in Southwest Residential Area after the New England

Patriots’ victory in Super Bowl XLIX Sunday night, reversing a decades-long precedent of vio-lent riots following major sport-ing events involving area teams. Last week, University of Massachusetts administra-tors publicized several policies intended to limit the possibility of a large student gathering in Southwest, including a 24-hour ban on guests in all campus dor-mitories starting at noon Sunday. UMass officials also announced that several on-campus watch parties would be scattered around campus, in addition to a larger gathering in the Student Union. Yet still, just after the Patriots secured victory against the Seattle Seahawks with Malcolm Butler’s interception of Seahawks quar-terback Russell Wilson, students began to pour onto the Southwest concourse. But there are no reports of rampaging hordes of violent UMass students. No pictures of students burning trees, throwing bottles into the crowd or attack-ing police. No videos of an unruly gathering of youths to plaster across the local news. The glowing performance of UMass students on Sunday night has nothing to do with policies instituted by the Office of Student Affairs over the past two weeks. Widespread reports by stu-dents indicated that the “campus-wide” ban on dormitory guests was only being enforced in the Southwest Residential Area, which students found unfair. When asked to comment, Ed

Blaguszewski, executive director of News and Media Relations, pre-sumed that “everything (was) being enforced appropriately.” Only about 100 students, less than 0.5 percent of UMass under-graduates, were in attendance at the Student Union watch party around 8:45 p.m., which accord-ing to Student Government Association President Vinayak

Rao was “a really good event so far.” Team Positive Presence, a group of students organized by a few members of the SGA and University administration, did not facilitate any celebrations in the crowd gathered in Southwest. But even with the seeming fail-ure of nearly every University policy intended to limit post-Super Bowl celebration, thou-sands of students celebrated for over an hour without getting vio-lent or facing police declaration of a “riot.” What was different this time? The police did not attempt to violently engage students. At previous gatherings in 2012 and 2013, police made several arrests, fired pepper balls into the crowd and issued a dispersal order. On Sunday, the assembled police held back, allowed students to celebrate peacefully and assisted students who seemed to be in

need. As the celebration began to die down, officers reportedly “fist-bumped” students leaving the concourse and told them to “stay safe.” The officers treated the cel-ebrating students as equals, per-haps because they too felt the glow of victory, but the reason why they did so doesn’t matter. Students gathered in Southwest did not face lines of armored police ordering them to disperse. Instead, they saw a group of offi-cers using megaphones to main-tain public safety and ensure that violent offenders did not break the peace. UMass alumni responded to the celebration on Twitter. Most praised the good behavior of stu-dents, but a few noted that police often instigated the violence that transformed previous gatherings into “riots.” We have two accomplish-ments to celebrate. Of course, the Patriots will bring home a fourth Lombardi trophy to New England. But far more impor-tantly, UMass students have con-founded the “ZooMass” stereo-type. Like people do across the world when local sports teams win championships, students came together to laugh, shout, jump and share in collective rev-elry. They did so without vio-lence, threats or illegal acts. And they did so in the name of UMass. As I said in the Daily Hampshire Gazette last Thursday, “Students don’t want to wreck the campus; they just want to jump up and down and scream a bit.” UMass students proved me right Sunday night, and I’m proud as hell.

Zac Bears is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at ibears@umass.edu.

“The glowing perfomance of UMass students

on Sunday night has nothing to do with policies instituted by the Office of Student Affairs over the

past two weeks.”

“Watching Brady hoist what very well could have been his final Vince Lombardi trophy was a no-brainer.”

Zac Bears

Andrew Cyr

Whether I’m proud to admit it or not, sports have controlled the better part of my 19-year-old life.

I’ve missed family holidays and vacations to attend baseball games and basketball tourna-ments throughout the region. I’ve willingly put off school assignments and studying so I could stay up late into the night to watch a big game. Sports are like that cheating, all-around terrible girlfriend that your closest friends tell you to stay away from. But no mat-ter how badly you want to get away from them, they just keep suckering you into making the

same bad decisions over and over again. Following the Patriots’ 28-24 victory over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX Sunday night, I was once again faced with another choice in which sports wiggled their way into being the deciding factor of what my next actions were going to be. As expected, hundreds of stu-dents piled into the Southwest Residential Area to celebrate Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the rest of the New England Patriots winning their fourth championship in the past 14 sea-sons. I could have very well been one of the students in the middle of the commodore celebrating with my peers, classmates and best friends. It’s not every year you see your favorite team be the last one standing, holding up the coveted trophy. But once again I let sports – or my natural instinct at this point – make that decision for me. Instead of running outside to throw snowballs, climb trees or even get in the face of police officers, I stayed inside my dorm in the exact same spot I watched the entire 60 minutes of the game from. Why? Because what I wit-nessed was greatness and it was something that I may never again get to see in my life. I witnessed the greatest quar-

terback of all time defy all odds, overcoming a 10-point deficit in the final quarter against the league’s best defense to win what was the greatest football game I’ve ever watched. Sure, the 2001, 2003 and 2004 Super Bowls were special, but I was in elementary school at the time. I didn’t know what it truly meant to see your favorite team win the Super Bowl. I witnessed the two collapses against the Giants in 2007 and 2011 and still didn’t realize the significance of the game itself. Sports are more important to me than a foolish 40-minute cel-ebration. Watching Brady hoist what very well could have been his final Vince Lombardi Trophy

was a no-brainer. And if you truly are a Patriots fan, that moment should have been more special to you than running into a mosh pit full of drunken col-lege kids. Any Patriots fan that tries to tell you otherwise just doesn’t get it yet. My decision to stay inside wasn’t based on the principle of respect for the administration of the University of Massachusetts nor the respect to the police offi-cers that were forced to miss the game to keep things under control. The thought of stay-ing inside to preserve the integ-rity of my degree didn’t even cross my mind in the heat of the moment. Thirty years from now I’ll look back on this night because of the game that was played and not what took place afterward at my school. I’ll look back on that night and remember that I watched the greatest game of football with some of my best friends and I will happily say I watched it until the very end. I didn’t gather outside because the sports nerd inside of me told me not to. And I couldn’t be prouder of that. Andrew Cyr can be reached at arcyr@umass.edu, and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

Why I stayed inside after the Super Bowl

Arts Living“I’ll do anything! I’ll watch a foreign film! I’ll talk to a man with a ponytail!” - Ron Swanson Arts@DailyCollegian.comTuesday, February 3, 2015

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

One legend tips his hat to another on ‘Shadows In The Night’

By Jackson MaxwellCollegian Staff

When one thinks of Bob Dylan and his status as both a musician and a legend in this era, the idea of him creating an album of pop standards is not really that surprising. When I saw him live in Hoboken, New Jersey a year and a half ago as part of his “Americanarama” tour with My Morning Jacket and Wilco, there was a unique buzz in the air. Obviously, when a major act performs anywhere, peo-ple all around town are going to be talking about it. But, that summer day, Hoboken seemed to come to a standstill. The restaurants blasted his music and his face was every-where on posters that lined the city. Everyone, regardless of whether they were attend-ing the performance or not, seemed to know that Bob Dylan was in town. While any number of American performers can draw thousands to each of their concerts, there is per-haps no entertainer in this day and age who can still provoke that feeling of the circus roll-ing in. Everyone knew they were going to see a legend, the single most important and influential figure in the his-tory of American music. The gravity of it was so powerful that when Dylan finally wan-dered onto the stage, in his dark coat and black hat, it was as if he were some sort of ghost. Other than when he introduced Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Jim James of My Morning Jacket to the stage for a stirring rendition of The Band’s “The Weight,” he never

spoke to the audience. By all means, he was a pro-fessional performer – deliv-ering his songs, then leaving without fanfare. His music and persona is the stuff of a bygone era, when information trav-eled slower and any sizable gatherings of people spread via word of mouth without the aid of technology. This generational gap is crucial in understand-ing “Shadows in the Night.” An album of pop standards made famous by – speaking of Hoboken – Hoboken native Frank Sinatra, it is not a record for millennials. Its tem-pos never budge above a slow waltz, its setting is consistent-

ly that of a 1950s noir film. The expressions of romantic long-ing in these selections from the Great American Songbook are so archaic that they almost seem to be borne of fantasy. But, despite their considerable age, Dylan and his small band manage to bring a few of these songs beautifully to light. In the press release that announced the album, Dylan stated that what he is doing on “Shadows in the Night,” released Feb. 3, is “lifting these songs out of the grave and bringing them to the light of day.” That spirit, of taking these well-worn songs and recreat-ing them in a way that focuses

on their emotional leanings, is what saves this album from becoming a bore. Even when interpreting someone else’s songs, Dylan’s vocal phrasing is still decep-tively brilliant. The way he emphasizes certain lines – sneering or holding out a specific lyric for maximum impact – is what truly brings these songs to life. “Some Enchanted Evening” is where the album’s premise is most fully realized. Dylan never bites off more than he can chew, vocally. His restrained performance cap-tures every ounce of the song’s almost otherworldly long-ing, while the band’s spare

arrangement makes every chord change feel like a seis-mic event. “Why Try to Change Me Now” also steps heavily on the nostalgia pedal, without over-doing it. Even on an album full of star-gazing ballads, this one stands out, with Dylan fully inhabiting the song’s wizened, whimsical protagonist. “The Night We Called it a Day” is the album’s finest breakup tale. Subtle, mournful horns intone in tandem with Dylan’s agonized vocals. Even without fluctuations in tempo or structure, it is a moving piece, one that truly recreates the era in which the song was written.

This is not to say that the typically saccharine nature of the Great American Songbook does not get the best of the album every once in awhile. Despite a playful, creative arrangement, “Autumn Leaves” amps the melodrama level to overdrive. “Full Moon and Empty Arms” calls for a wider vocal range, like Sinatra possessed. Even though Dylan’s voice may have quite a bit of charm, there are times on “Shadows in the Night” when hearing Sinatra himself sing these songs seems like the preferable option. As a promotional move, Dylan chose to give away 50,000 copies of “Shadows in the Night” to certain readers of AARP The Magazine, say-ing in a press release that, “A lot of those readers are going to like this record.” So, if there is a way to sum up this album’s target audi-ence, that is most certainly it. “Shadows in the Night” is a curious merger of the genius of two musicians who defined the music of their respective generations. It is a coy nod to the old music establishment from an artist who staked his name in defying that same old music establishment. And though it may seem at face value like Sinatra and Dylan never had a thing in common, when one looks at the myth and image Dylan has created for himself over the past half-century, the similari-ties are obvious. This is an album for the people who saw the peaks of both of these performers’ careers and view them both in the same tower-ing light.

Jackson Maxwell can be reached at jlmaxwell@umass.edu.

Bob Dylan covers Sinatra on new LP

A L BU M R E V I E W

MARCELLO LINZALONE/FLICKR

Bob Dylan performs live in December 2011.

Aphex Twin releases zany, experimental new EP

By Jackson MaxwellCollegian Staff

When Richard D. James first unveiled “Syro,” his first album as Aphex Twin in 13 years to an unsuspecting world last fall, he said it was the most accessible of at least half a dozen finished works that he had recorded during the preceding decade-plus. Considering the sheer size of his output in the 1990s, the idea of a handful of finished Aphex Twin albums sitting in James’ archives was not dif-ficult to conceive. And though it is unknown when “Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2” was recorded – for all we know, James could have dashed if off a month ago – it would seem as though it is one of the less accessible fin-ished works James was refer-ring to a few months ago. Standing in stark contrast to the smooth, organic sounds of “Syro,” James’ second release as Aphex Twin in the last five months mostly lives up to its title. The EP’s 13

tracks are mostly brief, pre-pared piano or percussion pieces with six tracks clock-ing in at less than a minute. That brevity makes the EP a fidgety listen; just when one thinks they have figured out James’ desired direction, he abruptly throws the listener off course. Its brevity also makes “Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2” a more playful outing than “Syro,” with zany oddities like the 20-second snare piece, “snar2” and the wild piano lines of “disk aud1_12,” which clocks in at a total of nine sec-onds. But while it may be more fun in a way, “Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments,” released Jan. 23, lacks the compositional mastery that made “Syro” such an engaging experi-ence. With their mechanical origins, these computerized individual instruments just do not have the same impact as the endless layers of analog synths James usually uses as his palette. Consider “piano un1 arpej,” one of the EP’s pia-no-based pieces. The track

flutters around aimlessly for the entirety of its 50-second duration, stumbling upon one or two beautiful clusters of chords, but never finding one to permanently settle on. From “Avril 14th,” the cen-terpiece of his 2001 album, “Drukqs,” one can discern that James can churn out a

stunning piano melody in less than two minutes. But few of the pieces on “Acoustic Instruments” seem to have the focus of the loop-based pieces on “Drukqs,” the closest analog to this EP in James’ discography. Closer “hat5c 0001 rec-4” – you really have to love these titles, if

nothing else – is one of the EP’s more live-sounding moments, with an off-kilter rhythm that brings cosmic Krautrock like Can to mind. “disk prep calrec2 barn dance (slo)” has a near-industrial vibe, with its one-note melody and clattering, metallic per-cussion.

Opener “diskhat ALL pre-pared1mixed 13,” with its slow evolution from a simple creeper to a complex, rhyth-mically diverse composition, is the EP’s most fully fleshed out and fully realized piece. Consistently unpredictable and experimental, it is an appropriate tone-setter for the rest of the album. In recent weeks, numer-ous, mysterious SoundCloud accounts anonymously released dozens of tracks that sounded very much like James’ work. Most of these tracks have since been con-firmed as authentic by James’ extensive, die-hard fan base. With this development, there is no telling how large James’ vault of music is. If his past is any indica-tion, “Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2” may be far from the last we hear of James in 2015. Even if his newest EP is disappointingly mechanical and scatterbrained, one gets the feeling that James has quite a few more releases like this one waiting in the wings.

Jackson Maxwell can be reached at jlmaxwell@umass.edu.

Electronic legend changes his focus

A L BU M R E V I E W

NRK P3/FLICKR

“Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2” is the second new Aphex Twin release in the last five months.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN6 Tuesday, February 3, 2015 DailyCollegian.com

WE WANT YOUR COMICS!Put your comics in front of thousands of readers.

Questions? Comments? Email us: comics@dailycollegian.comComicsWe interrupt regularly schedule programming to bring a rerun.

Drinking so much chocolate milk that it makes you puke is the best way to never want to drink chocolate milk again.

H O R O S C O P E S aquarius Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

Maybe everyone is freaked out by your tuna fish sandwich not from the smell, but because it’s a whole tuna between two slices of bread.

pisces Feb. 19 - Mar. 20

Oh, people were having Super Bowl parties? I thought everyone was just extremely impassioned by Downton Abbey.

aries Mar. 21 - apr. 19

Next year, no undergraduates will remember the Souper Bowl.

taurus apr. 20 - May. 20

Why has no one ever taken the stringy twizzlers and knitted an edible cherry–flavored gummy sweater?

gemini May. 21 - Jun. 21

The only Super Bowl I’m interested in is full of nutritious flakes.

cancer Jun. 22 - Jul. 22

Seahawks can love America too.leo Jul. 23 - aug. 22

What was all that football about? It totally ruined that live Lenny Kravitz concert broadcast.

virgo aug. 23 - Sept. 22

Lenny Kravitz was really cool letting Katy Perry join him on stage.

libra Sept. 23 - Oct. 22

scorpio Oct. 23 - nOv. 21

“Do you think Kony is a Seahawks fan?”sagittarius nOv. 22 - Dec. 21

Late Night Franklin is a once in a lifetime experience. So true, so real, so fleeting.

capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

No matter what bus you get on this week, demand to only sit in the bendy section.

XKCD By RanDall MunRoe

DinosauR CoMiCs By Ryan noRth

There is no snow, only SCHOOL

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN Tuesday, February 3, 2015 7DailyCollegian.com

‘Baby D’…interesting. Majoring in ‘Discover Arts’ along with (Kendall) Pollard, (Scoochie) Smith and (Kyle) Davis – who knows what they’ll discover!” “We always sit far left by the opponents’ bench,” Zaremba said. “We love yelling at the oppos-ing bench. Sometimes we’ll hear someone else yell something that was on the ‘Bunker Banter’ and that’s when I feel we’ve done our job.” “We like chants but being able to personalize your chants for the other team is the best part of being a fan,” Zaremba said. “You get in their heads.” The Mullins Militia is not rec-ognized as an official Registered Student Organization on campus, which means it cannot receive funding from the University. However, UMass athletics sup-ports them and that is what vali-dates the group in the eyes of Stevens and Zaremba. “(UMass) athletics lets us print the sheets for free,” Stevens said. “They help us with busses. We got a bus to TD Garden the last two years. They’re definitely willing to help us, they scratch our backs and we scratch theirs.” The Mullins Militia only gener-ates revenue through t-shirt sales. T-shirts can be found on their web-site, mullinsmilitia.com, and by “enlisting in the militia” you can fill out a form and receive an offi-cial Mullins Militia shirt. The history of the Mullins Militia goes back five years. UMass

basketball coach Derek Kellogg supported fan involvement and getting students involved. Originally, he found a group of 10 or 11 passionate freshmen and before games they would go into the locker room, listen to him give pump up speeches and the stu-dents could greet the players as they came out onto the court.

“This was before we had fans,” Zaremba said. “The idea was to get a student body like the Cameron Crazies (at Duke) to get students involved. The following year the team got better and that was when we came in as freshmen.” The appeal of joining the Mullins Militia goes beyond cheer-ing for your school. You get a shirt,

you get to go to games early and you get to sit in the front row. “I would say that the team’s pretty darn fun,” Zaremba said. “(The) record doesn’t look great but the reality is they have played an incredibly tough schedule. The way we play is we get a lot of play-ers dunking. They like to feed off that stuff and the fan energy.”

“I think fans are looking for an experience, “Stevens said. “The best way to do that is for everyone to show up and do the same thing. To have 3,000 kids in there cheer-ing fuels the team on.” While the Mullins Militia has grown exponentially compared to five years ago, the group is not, and should not, be satisfied. “The key thing is that kids have to want to be a part of something,” Stevens said. “It takes everyone’s time and effort to choreograph chants and interplay between the crowd and the band. If everyone’s not on the same page then it doesn’t work, but we’d love to develop new traditions and it seems like the student interest is picking up. As the students get more involved, we’ll be able to do more stuff.” If you are interested in join-ing the Militia, you can find more info on their website or by visiting their twitter @MullinsMilitia. When asked who will be taking over the Militia when they gradu-ate, Stevens and Zaremba didn’t have an answer. As of now, there are five home games left this year for UMass, the next being Feb. 8 against La Salle. Stevens and Zaremba were part of building and growing the stu-dent section in the hopes of it continuing for years to come, and did it just by heading down to the Mullins Center. Who will be next?

Griffin Carroll can be reached at gcarroll@umass.edu.

MILITIA continued from page 8

ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

The Mullins Militia was founded five years ago and is not recognized as an official Registered Student Organization on campus.

the kids feel a little bit funky because they are out of routine,” Yarworth said. “The start of class-es also always gets them out of their comfort zone because they’ve just been training for a month and now have a different schedule. Additionally, they spent three hours on the bus.”

Minutewomen fall to Rams

While the men’s team was able to rally and take down Fordham, the UMass women’s swim-ming and diving team could not close its regular season with a win against Fordham. “We got beaten by a very good team and it is not unusual for us to not swim exceptionally well on this particular week-end,” coach Bob Newcomb said. “And the reality of it is that we are 18 days (from) the tournament and we didn’t swim that well against Fordham.” Despite the loss, Molly Smyth and Katie Arnott swam well for the Minutewomen. Smyth won the 1,000-yard freestyle and added a second place finish in the 500-yard free-style. Meanwhile, Arnott won gold in the 200-yard

breaststroke event. “I think that those are the two that stick out for us from the meet,” Newcomb said. “They were good, they weren’t great, and I don’t expect them to be great right now.” Newcomb explained that the meet against the Rams was simply not his team’s day. “I don’t know if it was specific events where we struggled, but we had peo-ple that were swimming hard, but not swimming really fast in just about every event,” Newcomb said. “This team did not give up or do anything like that, it just was not a good day for us.” With the A-10 cham-pionships approach-ing in mid-February, Newcomb made it clear that Saturday’s meet had no negative effect on the Minutewomen’s confi-dence and excitement for the tournament. “Wins and losses mean absolutely nothing because every school gets to bring a team to A-10s,” Newcomb said. “There is no seeding, you just go and swim. It’s all about what you do on that week-end.”

Matthew Zackman can be reached at mzackman@umass.edu.

FORDHAM continued from page 8

the Minutemen handed to the Wildcats like it was a “thanks for coming” gift. One step forward, one step back. It continued in UMass’ next game – a home win over rival Rhode Island – before going on the road and losing in a stinker to Saint Joseph’s. Following the game, Gordon said everyone in the locker room wasn’t on the same page. As the calendar turned and the schedule prolonged, the Minutemen wasted opportunities to play qual-ity basketball consistently. Yet they continued to hint it was coming. Guard Trey Davis said the turning point was the Davidson loss, a believ-able notion until the loss in Philadelphia. Gordon said prior to its home game against Dayton last Thursday that it needed a win against a strong confer-ence opponent to jumpstart a run. “We have to find some-thing,” Gordon said. “We have about (12) games left until the conference tour-nament. There’s still a lot of room to move up in the standings but we have to take it one game at a time.” The Minutemen found that something, a 66-64 squeaker over the Flyers. They followed it up with a 60-56 win on the road over

Saint Louis, a team they hadn’t beat since 1995. Two straight wins. No, not just wins – quality wins. Is this the start of an elusive winning streak? The begin-ning of the UMass team we were all promised back in October and November? At the very least, the stars are aligning. And if the Minutemen think of them-selves as a team capable of running with the big dogs – they’d better use their bite, because they haven’t afford-ed themselves the opportu-nity for any more slip ups. The Minutemen next trav-el to Fordham Wednesday to face a Rams team winless within conference. They then host La Salle, a team they’ve already beat, before traveling to St. Bonaventure in Olean, New York. It’s a difficult place to play, but a game they’ll need to win. After, UMass returns home to host Duquesne, who is 2-7 within the A-10. Then comes the make-or-break stretch. Road games against Rhode Island and Virginia Commonwealth (which just lost its senior point guard Briante Weber to a knee injury). Oh, what a win over VCU would do for the Minutemen. If UMass wins the games it’s expected to win – and pulls out a surprise victory over say, VCU or George

Washington, the entire season swings. Suddenly, they’re an intriguing team peaking at the right time. Of course, it remains to be seen whether UMass can suddenly harness its con-sistency. There’s talent on this team but it often comes and goes. Rarely do the likes of Maxie Esho and Lalanne string together strong per-formances for weeks at a time. But coach Derek Kellogg said he spoke to Lalanne and Esho recently and chal-lenged them to make some-thing of their senior season. There’s still time to chal-lenge the entire team, too. This is a team tasked with continuing the momen-tum from last year’s break-

through season. A team with evident talent – this much we know – and room to grow. The Minutemen said they wanted to be a team that peaks in March, not in December, like they did last year. It’s time to turn intan-gible talking points into tan-gible evidence. The schedule sets up well for UMass – favorable opponents await and the opportunity to take swings at the A-10’s best is on the horizon. It’s now or never for the Minutemen to make a run. They have no other choice. Mark Chiarelli can be reached at mchiarel@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

MINUTEMEN continued from page 8

CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

Derrick Gordon (2) inbounds the ball against Dayton on Jan. 29.

Browns’Johnny Manziel enters treatment facility

By Kurtis LeeLos Angeles Times

Cleveland Browns quar-terback Johnny Manziel entered a treatment facility last Wednesday, according to friends and team officials. “Johnny knows there are areas he needs to improve on to help him be a bet-ter family member, friend and teammate, so he decided to take this step in his life during the offseason,” Brad Beckworth, Manziel’s friend and advisEr, said in a state-ment Monday. “On behalf of Johnny and his fam-ily, we’re asking for privacy

until he rejoins the team in Cleveland.” Manziel, a star quarter-back at Texas A&M, was drafted by the Browns in 2014 with the 22nd pick. Since he was drafted, Manziel, 22, has been criti-cized for his habit of post-ing pictures to Twitter and Instagram while out party-ing with a number of celeb-rities. After Manziel won the 2012 Heisman Trophy, his father notoriously said of his son: “He ate Skittles, drank beer and won the Heisman.” “We respect Johnny’s initiative in this decision and will fully support him throughout this process. Our players’ health and

well-being will always be of the utmost importance to the Cleveland Browns,” Browns General Manager Ray Farmer said in a state-ment. “We continually strive to create a supportive envi-ronment and provide the appropriate resources, with our foremost focus being on the individual and not just the football player. Johnny’s privacy will be respected by us during this very impor-tant period and we hope that others will do the same,” Farmer’s statement said. During the 2014 NFL season, Manziel played in five games for the Browns and threw for a total of 175 yards.

N F L

Ray Farmer issues his public support

Sapp arrested at Ariz. hotel By James QueaLLy

Los Angeles Times

Warren Sapp, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and network analyst, was arrest-ed on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute and assault at a downtown Phoenix hotel just hours after Super Bowl XLIX, a law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times. Phoenix police officers arrested Sapp around 7 a.m. Monday at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel-Marriott after his alleged victim placed a call to hotel security, according to the offi-cial, who requested anonym-ity because the official was not authorized to discuss the arrest. It was not clear if the alleged victim was a pros-titute. Sapp was being held at the Maricopa County jail,

according to the official. Calls to spokesman at the Phoenix Police Department and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office were not immediately returned. A spokesman for the county prosecuting attorney’s office said information about charg-es against Sapp were not immediately available. “We have been contact-ed by the Phoenix Police Department regarding a matter involving one of our guests,” said Jon Erickson, director of sales and mar-keting for the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel. “We are cooperating with the police as they investigate this situation.” Erickson said he wouldn’t comment further because it’s an active investigation. Sapp was to appear in court later Monday, a sheriff’s office

spokesman said on Twitter. Sapp played more than 10 seasons in the NFL, includ-ing three with the Oakland Raiders and won a Super Bowl in 2002 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was named defensive player of the year in 1997, reached the Pro-Bowl seven times and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame after his first year of eligibility in 2013. Sapp was arrested on a bat-tery charge in Florida in 2010, but the charge was dropped. He has been an analyst with the NFL Network in the years since he retired. The network removed his profile from its website shortly after news of his arrest broke. An NFL Network spokes-man told the Times that Sapp has been suspended indefi-nitely.

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

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

BA S K E T BA L L

By Griffin CarrollCollegian Staff

As students poured into the Mullins Center last Thursday night for the

game between the Massachusetts men’s basketball team and Dayton, they were handed a white rally towel courtesy of UMass Dining. As students got to their seats, they received another souvenir. A colorful piece of paper labeled “Bunker Banter” was on every seat, along with newspapers in the front rows to distract the opposi-tion. The “Bunker Banter,” which was full of dirt on the opposing players as well as updates on the UMass basketball team, was cour-tesy of the Mullins Militia. The Mullins Militia, an inde-pendent student group, takes resi-dence behind the left baseline and right next to the opposing team’s

bench. The men in charge? Seniors PJ Stevens and Zach Zaremba. Stevens, from Groton and Zaremba, from Corvallis, Oregon have both been involved in the Mullins Militia since they were freshmen. “We’re both pretty big basket-ball fans,” Zaremba said. “I think college basketball is the best atmo-sphere in all of sports.” Stevens and Zaremba haven’t always been in charge of the Mullins Militia but they credit their new leadership to their ded-ication as fans throughout their time at UMass. “The reason it got passed down to us was because we were at every game as freshman, sophomores and juniors,” Zaremba said. “The biggest meetings we have are the games. That’s where you learn who really wants to be a part of it.” “We’ve been working with asso-

ciate athletic director Tim Kenney and director of sales and market-ing Jason Blanchette,” Stevens said. “They have been a big help to us, we meet with them a bunch before the season.” Stevens and Zaremba both have dual majors. Stevens is a sports management and marketing major and Zaremba is a sports manage-ment and accounting major. Both students use their area of study and apply it to their work for the Mullins Militia. “We’re both sport management majors,” Zaremba said. “We talk about marketing and getting our attendance up. We don’t have give-aways and we don’t have a budget. Attendance comes down to win-ning.” “When you compare (atten-dance) to our freshman year it’s off the charts,” Stevens said. “We’re an exciting team to watch.”

Up by three points with 13 min-utes remaining last Thursday, UMass basketball showed off just how exciting it can truly be. A Maxie Esho alley-oop dunk fol-lowed by a Tyler Bergantino dunk got the Mullins Center rocking and gave the Minutemen a lead they would not relinquish. The rowdiness of the Militia was in full display after that sequence of events. “We love chants,” Zaremba said. “We hope people read (the Bunker Banter) and use it for the chants.” On the left side of the “Bunker Banter” is a “meet Dayton’s play-ers” section that features each opposing player, their position, height, points per game and some commentary. Under Flyers guard Darrell Davis’ info is: “Nickname is

ALEC ZABRECKY/COLLEGIAN

UMass fans celebrate in the student section at the Mullins Center as the UMass men’s basketball team hosted Dayton on Jan. 29.

Ready for enlistment

It’s now or never for UMass

This time, it could be dif-ferent. This time, the Massachusetts men’s bas-

ketball team might finally be ready to break through. It has no other choice. This season has brought

heightened expec-tations, lofty aspi-rations and bold p r o c l a m a t i o n s . More often than not, the Minutemen (12-9, 5-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) have fallen short. Time is not on their side. It started before they even played a game. Derrick

Gordon told the Daily Collegian the Final Four was UMass’ goal and veterans spoke of a team chemistry that markedly improved over last year’s squad – the first NCAA tournament team from UMass in 16 years. The Minutemen jumped out to a 5-1 record, with their only loss coming to national power Notre Dame. All was well, prom-ise remained. That is, until UMass lost four of its final seven non-conference games, squandering crucial opportunities against Brigham Young, Providence, LSU and Harvard. For a team aiming to build an impressive resume, it struck out big time. The Minutemen are feeling the consequences. Those defeats hurt then but turns to agonizing pain when coupled with conference losses such as the 69-55 shellacking handed out to the Minutemen by St. Bonaventure. Even then, UMass responded, winning two straight road games against La Salle and George Mason. It earned this response from senior center Cady Lalanne: “I think we’re getting better, but we just have to hurry up and click because the end of the sea-son is nearing and the postsea-son is around the corner.” The following game? A 71-63 home loss to Davidson, one which

Minutewomen eye conference title

By PhiliP SanzoCollegian Correspondent

When winter thaws and turns into spring, the Massachusetts tennis team hopes it’s in prime position to capture an Atlantic 10 title which has eluded it in recent years. UMass reached the A-10 tournament in 2014 for the third straight year, only to fall short in the semifinals against eventual champion Virginia Commonwealth. “I expect them to play with intensity and I expect them to play with intention,” coach Judy Dixon said of her team. Dixon, who has been coach-ing the Minutewomen for the last 23 years, said she is very excited about the potential this season holds. UMass was ranked fourth in the A-10 preseason polls, just behind VCU, George Washington and Richmond. Dixon believes the ranking doesn’t justify her team’s tal-ent. Calling the ranking “upset-ting,” Dixon believes that the

Minutewomen’s history and potential deems them worthy of being ranked either second or third. Last season conclud-ed with UMass being ranked fifth in the conference. Dixon says that it’s “a shame, (the ranking) is not indicative of history, it is more like reputation.” In the end though, a rank-ing is just a preconceived idea of how things may turn out. The Minutewomen believe they have the talent to prove that they are better than a fourth ranked team. Of the 11 women on the team, six will be returning from last season, including senior Chanel Glasper. Glasper will captain UMass this season and is expected to be paired with Anna Woosley in the third spot of doubles. The veteran has had quite a career with UMass. With a 66-25 record, Glasper is tied with Masha Pozar for third most singles wins in Minutewomen history. She’s only eight singles wins away from tying 2014 graduate Jessica Podlofsky’s record for most singles wins in UMass history (74). Glasper’s attempt at his-tory will not be the only

storyline this year for the Minutewomen. Freshman Ana Yrazusta Acosta explod-ed onto the scene this past fall. In singles play she went 7-4 and finished 9-3 in doubles paired with Carol Benito. The duo’s performance earned them the No.1 doubles spot on the team. A native of Las Palmas, Spain, Yrazusta has upside unlike many others and is regarded by Dixon as one of the best players she has ever seen. There will be aspects to work on though and as the season matures, so should Yrazusta. She is perceived to be one of the top four players on the team, but as a fresh-man lacks the maturity and experience of the veteran players she’s most likely to face. It will be interesting to see how opposing teams who have never faced Yrazusta react to her talent. This can give Yrazusta and UMass an advantage in the spring. Dixon described the fresh-man as “a hidden entity” in the conference. Dixon added that she believes the team as a whole will be exciting and will show

its greatest advantage is its depth, especially at the top of their rotation. “UMass has always been better at the top,” Dixon said. As a result, this creates a very competitive atmosphere for every spot of the lineup. “I expect we will win more at number two and number three,” Dixon said. The Minutewomen opened their season on a low note, losing to Brown 7-0. It’s the third straight year Brown has bested UMass in a season-opener. But the Minutewomen are battling through minor inju-ries from Glasper, Woosley and Ariel Griffin, Dixon said that the team is in very good physical shape. She added that the trio is not expected to miss any matches. Dixon has added New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s mantra of “Do your Job” into her team. If it works for the Minutewomen like it did for the Super Bowl champions, then the A-10 championship trophy will be coming to Amherst. Philip Sanzo can be reached at psanzo@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Philip_Sanzo.

Depth should carry UMass, says Dixon

T E N N I S

By Matthew zaCkManCollegian Staff

The Massachusetts swimming and diving team took the final stop on its journey to the Atlantic 10 tournament as it visited Fordham on Saturday. UMass split the meet with the Rams as the Minutemen prevailed 172.15-115.5 and improved to 20-0 against Fordham all time in dual competitions. The Minutewomen were unable to keep up with the Rams in a 176-119 loss. The men’s team over-came a slow start which was partially due to poor exchanges in its relays. According to coach Russ Yarworth, UMass was then able to rally behind impressive individual performances from Owen Wright and Michael Glenn. “Our exchanges were not very good but after that we rallied and basi-

cally had a freshman and a senior carry the day,” Yarworth said. “Owen Wright won his three indi-vidual events and Michael Glenn won his three indi-vidual events. Owen and Michael were certainly the guys that we relied on today.” While Wright took gold in the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle races, Glenn finished first in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststrokes and 200-yard individual med-ley. According to Yarworth, Fordham posed a chal-lenge for UMass in dis-tance events. “They had a little bit more depth and a little more front line talent in the longer swimming events,” Yarworth said. Yarworth added that the Minutemen’s distance team was a little bit off. “We are starting our major rest for the end of the year tournament, so

UM splits meet with Fordham Focus now shifts to A-10 tournament

S W I M M I N G A N D D I V I N G

see FORDHAM on page 7

MarkChiarelli

see MINUTEMEN on page 7see MILITIA on page 7

Well-versed in heckling, the Mullins Militia continues to grow