UMass Dartmouth goes green

By Aubrey Ramsdell

In just one month, the UMass Dartmouth Pilot Recycling Program collects enough material to cover the length of a football field. That weighs in at approximately four tons! That’s four tons of paper, plastic and aluminum that will not go into the landfill and it only comes from five residence halls on campus. Between what was collected from Ivy, Pine Dale, Roberts, and Maple Ridge last semester, the program saved the school about $5000.

The initiative to “go green” began as a result of various state and federal legislative orders and a general desire to make a more environmentally friendly campus. Last spring, Chancellor Jean McCormack announced her support for the President’s Climate Commitment. Essentially, the university’s compliance with this movement means that UMD will establish action plans to minimize its ecological footprint. The pilot residence halls recycling program is run by Housing Facilities Operations and Services (HFOS), and it is just the first step to a more sustainable campus.

So how does the program work, and what exactly is “single-stream technology”? College students are busy people, be it with school work or socializing. Many want to recycle, but do not have the time or patience to sort materials, and space in the residence halls is tight. With single-stream recycling, students put all of their materials in one container. It is then collected and shipped out to a facility where it is sorted. “We even provide the bag for you,” said Melissa Drainville, the Sustainability and Conferences Manager on campus. “It all goes to the same place, which makes it easier for students.”

Some students are thrilled with the program. “I’m just so excited to see recycling on campus. I love that they’re doing this, and I can’t wait to see what else they’ll do,” said Dylan Cashman, a resident of Pine Dale.

Opinions differ, however, and not all are pleased. “I think it’s a waste,” said Evan Kolenda, another Pine Dale resident, “I mean, you’ve seen the bins. People just throw trash into them.”

Drainville acknowledged this as a legitimate problem, saying, “We moved some of the bins into the lobby to prevent students from depositing trash, and we have seen a reduction in it since then.” When asked which buildings were most guilty, she said, “Pine Dale and Ivy recycle the most material, but they also deposit the most trash.”

The issue is with the students who are not making the effort to keep things clean. Certain things just can’t be recycled—and there is no room to feign ignorance! The recycling bags and containers state right on them what is and is not okay to recycle. Food waste of any type (like those greasy pizza boxes), Styrofoam, electronics, and wood are not acceptable. Clean paper, glass containers, plastic materials (primarily bottles), aluminum, and cardboard are all welcome as standard fare.

The pilot program won’t be a pilot for very long. “By the fall of 2008, all residence halls on campus will be green,” said Drainville. This is a pretty big goal, but the action plan does not stop there. “We’ve got several things that we’re working on, like possible donation drives during check-out’s. We’d also really like to purchase a few electrical cars at some point to be used in the collection of recycled materials. It’s important to us that we make an effort to cut back on emissions,” she added excitedly, “Additionally, we would really like to install a few green roofs on some of the residence halls in the future.” HFOS is looking into the possibility of solar panels, and even maybe some literal greenery. Students could be seeing gardens on their rooftops at some point down the road!

Students can help with the “go-green” initiative by doing something as simple as turning off the light when they leave a room. Every little bit helps! Those who want to go one step further can install fluorescent light bulbs in their lamps, and they can try to only buy energy efficient appliances. Consciously use environmentally friendly products, and really, truly keep tabs on what is being placed in recycling bins—and the trash, for that matter.

For more information regarding this program, you can e-mail HFOSrecycling@umassd.edu or call HFOS Recycling at extension 6000.

The Loop to New Bedford

By Melanie Correia

Now that the semester is back in swing the old complaint, “there’s nothing to do around here” starts again. Well, now there is something to do! The Loop, or the Corsair Downtown Express, is UMass Dartmouth and New Bedford’s non-stop pilot bus program that “loops” from UMD to downtown New Bedford for free!

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Jean Kim says, “We think the Corsair Downtown Express is a wonderful way to encourage our students to take advantage of the rich cultural, entertainment and shopping opportunities in downtown New Bedford.”

The Loop leaves from the Campus Center and drops students off in front of the UMass Dartmouth Star Store College of Visual and Performing Arts Center (715 Purchase Street). This allows students who take classes, or who want to take classes, at the Star Store a means of transportation.

Jill Delfino, a freshman Illustration major says that it is “so much cheaper this way. Before you’d have to pay for gas and parking on the street or in a garage but now we don’t have to. The bus is so comfy, too!” Delfino also stated that the “best part is being able to go to New Bedford. There’s tons of stuff to do there and we can go back and forth for free.”

New Bedford’s Mayor Scott Lang said at a press conference, “The many university students enrolled in classes at the downtown campus have brought tremendous energy to the area, and this new transportation link offers the opportunity for every UMass Dartmouth student to experience the vitality that exists in downtown New Bedford.”

With the launch of this new program many of the restaurants and shops are offering UMD students discounts when they show their UMass Passes. Places like Café Arpeggio (known downtown for their ice cream and open-mic nights) or Gallery X are offering 10 percent discounts. Also with their UMass Passes students can get into the New Bedford Art Museum for $1 and the Whaling Museum for $5 (plus 10 percent off any store purchase) and that is just to name a few.

The Loop runs hourly from UMD to the Star Store. Monday through Saturday it leaves the campus at 8 a.m. and runs until 9:35 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights the bus hours are extended. The last departure from the campus center will be at 10:30 p.m. and the last departure from the Star Store will be at 11 p.m. Sunday’s the bus will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be an extra bus provided on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for CVPA students taking foundation courses at the Star Store.

The Loop also has its own website (http://www.newbedford.is/theloop/index.html)! For a complete schedule, map of downtown New Bedford, or list of venues (including retail, culture, galleries, salons, cuisine and nightlife) you can check the website. For further information or suggestions for improvements, you can email jgoodman@nbedc.org or contact Matthew Morrissey, the Executive Director for the New Bedford Economic Development Council at mmorrissey@nbedc.org or 508-991-3122 x 11.

Memory Holloway: Connecting the community through cooking

By Katie Bresnahan

Memory Holloway, an associate professor of art history at UMass Dartmouth was recently recognized with a UMass President’s Public Service Award.

Awarded for her work with the Salvation Army, Holloway says, “It’s nice to have the recognition, but when you win an award like that, it’s really always about all the people who helped you. And you’re just the one who put them together and organized it.”

“The award came for the cooking and for [service and] teaching in the community,” said Holloway.

Holloway started cooking meals for the Salvation Army because, one day on her way to the Star Store, she saw a line of people standing outside the Salvation Army in the rain, without raincoats or umbrellas. “I thought they’re lined up there, they look so cold, they look so hungry. I can do this. I can go and cook those turkeys. I know how to do it,” she said. At this time she knew that she had to do something for these people.

She attended the next board meeting and told the board that she would cook for the needy people. She says, “When you do something for somebody else there’s something in it for you, too. What was in it was a new sense of belonging to this community.”

Holloway explained that she cooks meals for the Salvation Army on Purchase Street in New Bedford around the holidays and other times throughout the year. This past Christmas, Holloway and her fellow volunteers, students and female inmates from a local prison, created a meal that fed around 370 people. Holloway also makes meals for the Salvation Army at Thanksgiving, Easter and, most recently, the Superbowl.

Each time Holloway prepares a meal at the Salvation Army she encourages her students to help out. The first time Holloway made a meal at the Salvation Army she did not know where to look for volunteers to help her. She was teaching first year students, at the time and invited them to help. After a while she started telling them that they could help her with these meals in place of one of the semester’s tests.

Holloway also believes that cooking meals for the homeless is a good way to educate students about civic engagement. It allows them to see a different part of their community and shows them where they can go to participate in community service opportunities. She says that the students learn what kinds of skills they have. According to Holloway, “Everyone has a skill, and you find out what your skills are when you go and help out. And your skills get better.”

Cooking with her students is also a good way to get to know them better, says Holloway. “When you cook with people, you eat with people, and when you eat with people you know them,” she remarked.

Much of the time, Holloway says that freshmen are hesitant to help out with making meals because they do not know how to cook. Yet, she encourages them anyway. She says that they enjoy the experience because some of the students learn how to cook, and they all help people who are less fortunate than them. Holloway added, “At the end of it, they say, ‘can we do this again?’” She also has help from her senior and graduate students.

Holloway also mentioned a group of six students who started cooking with her when they were freshmen and continued to help her prepare meals every year, until they graduated.

But the students are not the only ones who have fun. Holloway likes cooking, as well. It has always been one of her hobbies. While she was working on her Ph.D. she also studied at the Culinary Institute of America, where she studied baking. She studied cooking because she believes that food is related to art and art history and because she wanted to do something physical.

These meals that Holloway and student volunteers cook are big meals. She stated, “You have to be really organized. We cooked 17 turkeys for Thanksgiving.” Along with the turkey, they cooked sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli and different kinds of pies for dessert.

Another part of Holloway’s service to the community involves allowing inmates who are either well behaved or who are about to be released from the Bristol County House of Corrections to cook alongside her and her student volunteers. At Thanksgiving they cook with male inmates, and at Christmas they cook with females. This is part of a program run by the sheriff, who brings the prisoners to the Salvation Army in a small van when they are selected to cook with Holloway and her students.

Recently Holloway has added teenagers to her group of chefs, as well as the undergraduate and graduate students and inmates. She says that it is a good thing and that “the community starts to get mixed up” when this happens.

The next group who Holloway plans to cook with is members of the Clemente Program. The Clemente Program is run by a group of UMD faculty who teach low-income people different subjects at the university.

Before teaching at UMass Dartmouth, Holloway taught at Vassar in New York. Coming to UMD, in 1996, was a big change for her. She realized that there was a large Portuguese community in the area and people spoke several different languages, two of which she speaks, Spanish and Portuguese. This came in useful when she saw the people standing in line outside of the Salvation Army, because she could speak to them.

“I love it here,” says Holloway, “I like the community and that’s partly because I’m in the community.” She enjoys teaching in the College of Visual and Performing Arts because CVPA students are there almost all day. She also likes that “it is a small college and we know one another.” She also likes that a lot of the art students are very talented.

Through her cooking, Holloway also met a lot more of the UMD population. When she first started out the Salvation Army did not have a lot of cooking supplies. So, she went to different people in food services and asked them how to buy the different kinds of equipment.

Holloway is also on the board of the Center for Portuguese Studies. She says that this is a very important part of the surrounding community since so many people in the area speak the language.

She has given her three children “this kind of a sense that you have to do something in the world.” One is in the Peace Corps, one is a journalist in England and one is still in high school.

About her President’s Public Service Award and commitment to public service, Holloway concluded, “It’s about putting food together, but it’s really about putting people together.”