UMass Dartmouth Torch -- Front Page


Thursday, March 1, 2007	The online edition of UMass Dartmouth's weekly newspaper	Issue 19, Volume 53
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FACING VIOLENCE

Two students injured in stabbing incident

Alleged assailant apprehended at the scene

By Chris Donovan

In the early hours of last Sunday morning, two UMass Dartmouth students were attacked after a dance that was held in the Woodland Commons. According to the colonel of UMass Dartmouth Public Safety Emil Fioravanti, for reasons unknown, Hassan Beazer, a resident of Randolph allegedly cut two UMass students with an edged instrument.

The dance, which was sponsored by Sigma Phi Rho, was an 18-plus event that wasn’t selling alcoholic beverages. There were a total of 16 officers, consisting of a mix of UMass police, state police and private security officers from two different companies, working in and around the event. Also, students were required to pass through a metal detector upon entering.

Emmanuel Lyte, member of Sigma Phi Rho, spoke for the organization stating that on the night of the event, “We noticed this kid [Beazer] was over-intoxicated. We told the police that he needed to leave, so they took him out of the party. Unfortunately, they took him out of the party, but they never escorted him off campus.”

After being forced to leave, Beazer then waited outside of the Woodland Commons until the dance got out. Witnesses, who wish to remain anonymous, said that sometime around 2 a.m. they heard a commotion: “There were two groups of kids in the roundabout between Evergreen and Willow. Out of nowhere one of the groups started running towards the commons, and the rest of the kids followed them.”

Shortly after the groups reached the Woodland Commons, witnesses claim they saw the assailant “smash a bottle over one kid’s head.”

At about 2:19 a.m., the assailant then reportedly injured two students with a knife. One student suffered injuries to his shoulder and hand; he was released from the hospital shortly after being admitted Sunday morning. The other student received cuts to both his hand and cheek. He was released from the hospital on Tuesday, but will have to go back to have surgery on his hand.

Colonel Fioravanti stated that the knife was not detected when Beazer entered the dance because he didn’t bring it into the building, but apparently kept it somewhere outside.

The assailant was quickly identified and apprehended after the incident. University spokesman John Hoey feels that “UMass Dartmouth police, state police and the town of Dartmouth police did a terrific job at handling the situation.”

The dance itself was relatively problem free according to Colonel Fioravanti. Lyte agrees and feels that “it was one of the best parties we have had [until the incident].”

Assistant Director of Student Activities Chris Laib encourages students and the university to “not equate the incident with the fraternities and sororities on campus.” He also encourages students to add an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number into their contact list on their phones. This system allows authorities an easy way to find an emergency contact number for students should a situation arise.

Administration suspends dances for the semester

Last year, when there were gunshots heard from a parking lot on campus after a dance, a committee was formed to examine the policies regarding such events. The committee consisted of colonel of the UMass Dartmouth police Emil Fioravanti, Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs David Milstone, and a handful of leaders from different student organizations. After meeting, the committee created an expanded policy on dances held on the UMass Dartmouth campus. The newly detailed policy included changes such as the definition of a dance, procedure on how to hold a dance, attendance policies and a dance specific security policy.

After a meeting held Monday afternoon, a decision was made by this committee to cancel all dances for the rest of the semester until the university’s dance policy can be reevaluated and possibly revised. A dance is defined by the university as “any social event sponsored by a university recognized student group or organization and departmentally sponsored dances with students in attendance whose purpose is the promotion of free movement to amplified music in an unobstructed area in a campus facility or area subject to reservation.”

The decision to reevaluate and revise the policy came after two UMass Dartmouth students were stabbed on February 24th. Milstone stated that “we were lucky two times, lucky in the sense that no one died, we aren’t willing to risk a third.” The committee decided that until they have a chance to create a task force to evaluate the current policy, they would have to cancel all dances scheduled to take place at the Woodland Commons and also organization sponsered pub nights.

Associate Dean of Students Mary Beckwith wants students to know that the decision was “not made lightly, and it is painful for all of us to deal with, but with such a big incident, it would be irresponsible to not take a look at our policies.”

The task force that is proposed will “work with students to find ways to put on events in a safe way,” according to Milstone. Policies at schools of similar size and demographic will be looked at in order to get an idea of what works for them and what could possibly work for UMass Dartmouth. Milstone says that the ultimate goal is to have events that are high in both safety and freedom.

Plans to increase the safety level in the future include plans for security cameras placed in parking lots, the possibility of requiring off campus guests to be signed in with a UMass student at all events, increasing the amount of security personnel and ultimately having a visitor sign-in station at the entrance to campus. Colonel Fioravanti stated that all of these things take time, resources and certain sacrifices to accomplish.

Colonel Fioravanti made it clear that this temporary change in policy is “in no way an indictment on Sigma Phi Rho,” he stressed that the stabbing could have taken place at any dance event held on campus.

Events that are planned for Senior Week will not be affected by this policy change. Assistant Director of Student Activities Chris Laib explained that the policy is “in effect for the rest of the semester. The semester comes to an end when classes end, which doesn’t fall into Senior Week.” Also, the pub will remain open throughout the rest of the semester—it is only the organization sponsored pub nights that will be canceled.

Celebration of progressive diversity

Campus holds second annual Black History Month Ball

By Nate Silva

“Lift every voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty.”

So went the lyrics of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Negro National Anthem, sung memorably for all in attendance of UMass Dartmouth’s second annual Black History Month Ball last Friday evening by student Kenysha Williams. Students, faculty, administration and other members of the UMass Dartmouth community filled the Woodland Commons for an elegant evening conceived to celebrate the diversity that UMass Dartmouth provides for the community.

Following William’s introduction, Chancellor Jean MacCormack took the podium to reflect on the progress that has been made in the UMass Dartmouth community in regard to its diversity. According to MacCormack, as of several years, ago only 10% of students attending UMass Dartmouth were students of color. As of this year, that percentage has risen to 14%. MacCormack praised this recent rise in the diverse quality of the school, claiming that more work needs to be done.

Since its inception, the Black History Month Ball has been a celebration of pride in the diversity enjoyed by the UMass Dartmouth campus. One of the founders and organizers of the event, Sigma Phi Rho member Emmanuel Lyte, felt that when he first attended UMass Dartmouth there wasn’t a great amount of attention to the diverse qualities of the campus. “It seemed like it was something known but brushed by,” says Lyte.

After looking into the possibility of organizing an event, an increasing number of people began to come to the forefront. Now, more than a year later, the event has evolved into one of high anticipation and enthusiasm. “Just a terrific event,” says Assistant to the Chancellor John Hoey. “There are some events that are fun, but then there are events that have very important things going on.”

The response to this year’s celebration of diversity was certainly something of note, with tickets becoming extremely limited as the big night approached. “Last year was very good, but it wasn’t packed,” says Lyte. “This year we had more students, more faculty -- people really wanted seats. Students got to mingle with people that they really should get to know on campus.”

Due to various scheduling conflicts, two of the three originally planned speakers for the ball were unable the attend: Sigma Phi Rho fraternity founder Courtney Bennett and Bridgewater State College President Dana Mohler-Faria.

Lee Charlton, president of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch in New Bedford was present as a speaker at this year’s ball, exclaiming his amazement at the growing diversity of UMass Dartmouth. Charlton was also one of the two recipients of this year’s Martin Luther King Drum Major Awards earlier this semester.

According to Lyte, having input from such a noted community activist as Charlton was a very special addition to this year’s celebration being that the diversity of the campus has the potential to influence and enhance the surrounding community in addition to the school environment itself. With areas like New Bedford, which has such a variety of cultures, Lyte explains that having a significant amount of diversity and a progressive attitude on our campus “gives the school a certain added edge.”

According to Lyte, changing the ways and views of America won’t happen overnight from one single event such as the Black History Month Ball, but with the first ball last year, Lyte feels that a change was able to be spurred in the UMass Dartmouth community.

“There are a lot of students that are very intelligent, but forced to live a lie about what they are, or where they’ve been -- just because they can’t fit in. Stuff like that really touches me,” Lyte explains.

As for the future of the Black History Month Ball, Lyte says that he and the other organizers of the ball hope to enlist many new people in the campus community for help with making the third annual ball even more successful.

Lyte also hopes that even more people will be motivated to embrace the diverse qualities of the school and credits many people for working hard to make this event a reality every year. “I’d just like to thank everyone that came and the people that helped to put it together,” says Lyte. “With their help we can expect even bigger and better things next year.”

Upcoming open forum to focus on parking fees

This upcoming Tuesday, March 6, there will be an open forum that focuses on the parking fees that will be instated for next year. The forum will be held by Resident Halls Congress, and the committee that has decided to implement the parking fees.

Last December in an open forum held at a Student Senate meeting, it was announced that there would be parking fees implemented for the 2007-2008 school year. These parking fees would range from $100 a year for commuters, $125 a year for staff, and $150 for residents. The idea to have these parking fees, and what the fees would be, came from a study that looked at comparable institutions.

The money collected from these parking fees would be put exclusively towards increasing and upgrading safety and security on campus in a variety of ways. Goals include providing expanded Dart Van services, improve lighting around campus, and the installation of a video surveillance system for the parking lots to help prevent vehicular vandalism.

Although the fees have already been decided, there are still a lot of areas where student feedback is wanted. This forum will give students and staff an opportunity to voice their opinions on how the fees will be implemented, where the money collected from the fees will go, and how visitors on campus will be charged for parking. Written questions for the forum will be taken at the beginning, and then screened and addressed by the committee.

Parliamentarian of the Residence Halls Congress, Brandon Lozeau knows that not all students will be accepting of the new fees, but explains that “even though it is an added cost to an already expensive education, it will be greatly beneficial for the campus community since the revenues will be used for public safety purposes, such as video cameras in parking lots.”

The forum will be held in Group 1, Room 117 at 7 p.m., and is open to all students, and staff.