Public Safety to make improvements

By Stephanie Luz

More officers, call boxes, and plans for the installment of surveillance cameras are just some of the new improvements coming to Public Safety Headquarters at UMass Dartmouth.

Plans are in the works for a new video surveillance system. This is exciting news for many students such as freshman Mark Realbuto, “I think it’s good… It seems like a lot of not so good activities take place in the parking lots. If anything could be done to either catch the people that [commit crimes] or prevent [crimes], than that would be a good thing, not only because it would prevent car vandalism but also because it would protect students.”

Colonel Emil Fioravanti, Director of Public Safety said, “It’s going to be at least three to six months until [surveillance cameras] are up. It’s not an easy process. We don’t want to build something that is not helpful.” In the upcoming months, plans will be reviewed with designers and engineers. Right now, the plan is for security cameras to be up in every parking lot with the number of cameras varying on the size and geography of the lot.

“A big thing is bringing staffing up to where it needs to be. We started the recruiting program at the beginning of the year. We are now requiring an associates degree with at least 60 credits,” said Fioravanti. College degrees were not a requirement in previous years. Fioravanti said that two more security officers and one more dispatcher are being recruited; there are hopes that Public Safety will be at full staff by the end of the summer. Working at full staff alone has been very hard to accomplish. The UMD Department of Public Safety has never been at full staff before this time.

New blue call boxes have also been added to different parts of campus: the end of Centennial Way, Dorm Road, behind the Campus Center, behind the CVPA building, at the entrance of campus and the Cedar Dell. “Our goal is to be able to get a few more. We want to put another one out on the residence hall drive and some by lot seventeen, lot thirteen… and lot seven” said Fioravanti. In addition to the new call boxes, old preexisting call boxes have been replaced.

There are plans to incorporate bus shelters—bus stop areas that will provide cover from precipitation—with emergency phone and call boxes. Fioravanti also hopes to get campus maps so that students know where they are at each stop and equip the shelters with solar panels for energy. Two of the bus shelters will be installed within the fiscal year and two more in the next.

“People seem to be getting the message about parking in the wrong spots, particularly in fire lanes… we’ve seen a big difference,” said Fioravanti. Stolen parking passes have been a major problem when the parking fees were first instituted last year. Two people were caught stealing the parking passes and are undergoing judicial review. Parking passes in the form of hang tags were thought to be the problem at first but many private institutions have been using them without any trouble.

A few other things to look forward to will be improvements to lighting on campus. Public Safety and Campus Facilities are also teaming up to add more light posts and sidewalks to Ring Road where many students walk and exercise.

South Coast delegation returns from the Azores

By Katie Bresnahan

A delegation composed of government, education and business leaders from the South Coast met at a press conference Monday morning to share the results of their recent trade mission to the Azores Islands, off the coast of Portugal.

Included in this delegation were United States Congressman Barney Frank, State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), State Representative Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), State Representative Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford), UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean MacCormack, Bristol Community College President Jack Sbrega and Fall River businessman Fernando Garcia. These seven southeastern Massachusetts leaders ventured to the Azores for a week, discussing business, economics and the environment with leaders on the islands.

Chancellor MacCormack, who is back from her second trip to the Azores, said that while they were there she and Doutor Avelino de Freitas Meneses, the president of the University of the Azores “signed an agreement for student and faculty [exchange programs].” The university departments that will be involved in this program are Portuguese studies, nursing, management and economics. The chancellor said, “[This program] will begin to move right away.”

There will also be an exchange program between the libraries at UMD and the University of the Azores. According to a UMD press release, the Claire T. Carney Library and the library at the school in the Azores “will provide electronic delivery of library materials to each other.” The two schools will also develop a partnership, which will allow exchange related research and the two libraries would permit access to digital materials across the Atlantic as well.

The highlight of the trip, according to Representative Rodrigues was “the look on Tony [Cabral]’s face when we landed [on his island].” Cabral grew up in the Azores.

Cabral said, “It certainly was a pleasure to be part of this mission.”

While they were in the Azores, the delegation also took part in several other activities. One of these activities was a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the eruption of the Capelinhos Volcano. This caused many Azoreans to immigrate to the United States.

The delegation also attended a conference that focused on energy and the environment, agriculture and fisheries, international business, logistics, marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, tourism and health care.

According to Senator Pacheco, “The most pressing problem facing the world today is climate change.” In the Massachusetts State Senate he chairs the Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change.

They met with the president of the airport on one of the islands. They spoke to him about the value of tourism and transportation. “All of these things are important,” said Cabral, “but without transportation they would not be possible.”

Congressman Frank referred to the Azores as America’s “‘easy entry’ to getting established in Europe.” These islands are also located in an easy to reach location. They are only a four and a half hour flight from the U.S.

“I would like to grade [the mission] as an A,” said Garcia at the end of the conference, describing the successful trip to the Azores.

Students do community service in New Bedford during spring break

By Annie Willis

Each year, mid-March rolls around revealing a week for students to recover from a long winter of being battered around both by classes and the off-shore winds of UMass Dartmouth.

Many students use this opportunity to travel to a warm beach close to the equator or make extra money bagging groceries. But there is a group who swallow their desire to vacation and brave the muted colors and still-unimpressive temperatures of early spring to serve the communities of Dartmouth, Fall River and New Bedford.

Members of this group are called ASBers (Alternative Spring Breakers) and they dedicate five days out of their Spring Breaks to perform various community-building service projects in the towns surrounding UMass Dartmouth.

Last March, 10 students willingly stayed on campus and teamed up for the week with eight members of YouthBuild, a program in New Bedford that helps people ages 16-24 get their GEDs while learning indispensable construction skills.

Although the groups were from drastically different walks of life, they joined together and found they had a lot more in common than they originally thought.

Roselle Arpino, one half of the organizational team of Alternative Spring Break, found that putting together the break last year was truly an eye-opening experience. She said, “This may sound a bit corny, but honestly organizing last year’s alternative break was a life changing experience. Seeing all the hard work leading up to the break come together, watching everyone get along and have a good time, as well as work together in the community really moved me. It’s a sense of pride that I couldn’t get from anything else.”

Last year, the week began with once-loathed “Team Builders,” which, although purposefully embarrassing, are fun ways to reveal one’s true character and get to know others.

During the week, the ASB group participated in discussions with representatives from the Women’s Center in New Bedford, Buttonwood Park, College Now, the Dartmouth YMCA and the Coalition for Social Justice.

They did everything from planting seeds at the Dartmouth YMCA garden, to cleaning up Buttonwood Park, to registering voters in public housing in Fall River and helping sort donations at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church after the immigration raid. The group of ASBers also got all dolled up to help out at the SWIMS Conference (Successful Women in Math and Science) and the Men Who Cook Fundraiser for the Women’s Center.

The students gave YouthBuild members a personalized tour of the UMass Dartmouth campus and community, as well as worked late into the night to prepare floats for New Bedford’s annual Earth Day parade.

Celina Ruiz, a serial ASBer, says, “I met some of the best people during my first year, and the experience has always been great. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it because of the new perspective volunteering provides. I like most of the volunteering that we have done.”

Rita Wang, another serial ASBer (they always come back for more!) said, “The services we provide helps people in our own backyard. The media portrays national disasters or once in a lifetime events that require volunteers. But when you look hard at our own surroundings, there is always a great need for compassionate people to serve in the local community.”

Alternative Spring Break not only benefited the surrounding cities, but it also planted the seed for a fantastic partnership between YouthBuild and UMass Dartmouth. The relationship that was fostered between the two groups is everlasting and still continues to morph into a strong force that is still working to change the face of the community.

This year, the 2008 Alternative Spring Break will focus on different elements of social justice, access to higher education, and promoting diversity in the community. It is never too early to start thinking about getting involved in Alternative Spring Break! There are many perks too, such as a $400 tuition waiver for doing 40 hours of community service, creating contacts and networking amongst the community, moving in to the dorms hassle-free a week earlier than everyone else, and most importantly, making life-long friends who enjoy serving the community as much as you do.

Tho Pham, a freshman business undeclared major, will be spending her first spring break of college serving the cities around her. She says that she thinks Alternative Spring Break will be “good for the community,” and that it is “an experience that I have never had before.” Pham has high hopes that she’ll enjoy the week of hard work, community building, and service.

To get more information about this great opportunity, please contact Sophal Kea at uskea@umassd.edu or Roselle Arpino at u_rarpino@umassd.edu. And remember, as uncool as it may sound, community service is a great alternative to wasting your Spring Break at home in front of the TV or sweating on some tropical beach for a week!