Students pay HFOS for residence hall damages

By Stephanie Luz

“Housing has spent close to $100,000 on elevators,” said, Manuel Alves, Assistant Director of Housekeeping and Grounds at UMass Dartmouth. Elevator costs are only a percentage of the charges students will face in the 2007-2008 academic year.

“Just for couches, chairs [and] loveseats, I’ve spent $16,999… As quick as the couch gets fixed, another couch gets ripped and it goes to community billing if it’s not caught,” said Alves. Housing Facilities Operations and Services (HFOS) charges all residents within a specific residence hall for the vandalism cost in that building, making the fees anywhere from four dollars to twenty-five cents per student. Alves continued, “[Residents ask], ‘why did I get billed?’ That’s because…no one steps forward to say who actually did it.”

Alves has worked at HFOS for six years and has experienced a change in the amount of vandalism over time. “Vandalism has increased… It has increased to the point that I’ve spent more money just to make it livable for people to be here and to repair what I already have.”

Chestnut resident, Joe Montella commented on HFOS’s work. He said, “Based on what I’ve seen, I think they do a decent job. They have a lot to put up with; I’ve seen matrons clean up laundry detergent dumped over two flights of stairs. I felt bad to see them clean it up.”

The Pine Dale elevators suffer from constant vandalism. Alves invested in aluminum casings to mount the ceiling panels for the elevators. Within two days the replacement panels were destroyed. He explained, “We fix it and replace it but a lot of times the students don’t believe it because within fifteen to twenty hours later, it’s already [broken]. The Birch elevators were also victim to vandals when the entire electrical panel was torn off, resulting in their shutdown. There has even been an incidence of feces that was smeared on the elevator wall.”

Vandalism is becoming very dangerous for students, especially with the recent Evergreen Hall fires in which a person or persons lit paper on eight different doors on fire. The investigation of that incident continues. Anyone with information pertaining to this serious crime is encouraged to contact the Department of Public Safety. In this situation, vandalism did not only cost the residents and university money but it could have cost lives.

Why is there vandalism? Alves believes it is a lack of fear. He said, “There is vandalism here because no one is held accountable and people that are held accountable are the only people who get caught. They only get caught because there is no fear.” He added, “There is no fear for consequences because [vandals] know that if they don’t get caught, everyone else is going to pay for their fall. Everyone else that’s following the rules will end up paying for it. So I think…if you really want to stop vandalism, [you should] step forward and say it was ‘such and such.’ They can do it anonymously, through [their] RA … [or] call Public Safety and talk anonymously.”

There are some solutions being explored to prevent vandalism and its effects on students and the university. Eric Lyonnais, Assistant Director of Housing and Facilities said, “We are trying to make the buildings look a little fresher and repainting Elmwood and Roberts. What we are trying to do [with Student Affairs] is promote cleaner living and hopefully they will take pride in where they are living and…think twice about vandalism.”

Lyonnais said that all traditional hall carpets will be removed and replaced with tile. They will receive new furniture, as well.

HFOS is trying to improve security at the residence halls by researching different types of doors. Lyonnais said, “We are constantly [fixing fire doors] but we can’t keep up because they break it three or four times a day.”

Beginning next semester, students living in the traditional residence halls will be required to bring their trash out to the dumpster instead of disposing it in designated trash areas. Alves and Lyonnais hopes that this new procedure will prevent students from leaving messes in the residence halls.

HFOS is trying to promote students taking responsibility. “We got to the point where we became investigators… I teach my staff if they leave a bag of trash behind, I’m supposed to charge twenty-five dollars… My staff is training to open it up and look for a name and now we charge that person directly, only that person” said Alves.

They are also thinking about future vandalism. Alves said that they have been looking at different vendors that sell furniture that can be taken apart internally with a screw. Individual parts of the furniture can be removed and replaced for a fee of twenty-five dollars. HFOS is also looking at a new cloth that can be replaced when damaged for the same fee. “We are looking at ways to save money, both for the students and for us,” said Alves.

If anyone sees vandalism on campus, please report it to your Residential Assistant (RA), Resident Director (RD) or Public Safety. Students can find contacts for each of these people on the UMass Dartmouth website.

On-campus bike path discussed at luncheon

By Katie Bresnahan

There was much discussion over the likely possibility of creating a UMass Dartmouth campus bike path at this Monday’s Bike Path Luncheon in the Library Browsing Area.

Dr. Jean Kim, UMass Dartmouth’s Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs began the discussion by telling audience members that when she started working at UMD she noticed that there was not a sidewalk around Ring Road. She added, “I know it’s a project that’s been on the capital projects list. There has been an item that is called ‘Ring Road Improvements.’” She said this list of projects will be worth around $1.7 million. It includes repaving the road, adding a bike path or sidewalk and improving lighting.

UMass Dartmouth Director of Public Safety, Colonel Emil Fioravanti spoke next. He gave the audience updates about campus transportation. He described a bike path as a way to “improve our ability to transport people [while] trying to encourage people not to move their cars.” He also said that ridership on on-campus transportation, including DartVans, has tripled in the last year.

Next, Adam Recchia of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development Department (SRPEDD) spoke. He laid out the options for a campus bike path. He showed maps of where possible paths could be built around campus and explained the different types of bike paths that may be used on campus.

The first option was a Class I Bikeway. This kind is located off-road, it is two-directional and can be shared by cyclists and pedestrians. The second type of path is a Class II Bikeway. This sort of path is a lane on either side of a road and it is designated for bikes only. He also described the widths of each kind of path and the necessary amount of space between a road and a path.

He mentioned bike parking. “This is the kind of thing we all thing would be great [to have] on this campus,” said Recchia.

“We installed six or seven bike racks over the summer,” stated Peter Gagnon, Associate Director of Facilities, Planning, Design and Construction at UMass Dartmouth, and the final speaker of the day. He also said that he noticed that people are using them.

Gagnon spoke about LEED certification. All new buildings need this certification — they need to be green — and they must include facilities for bikers, including bike parking, showers and changing rooms. These amenities must be based on the occupancy of the buildings.

After the panel spoke, there was a period when the audience was allowed to ask questions and comment on what the speakers said. During this time, there was a lot of debate over where a Ring Road bike path should be located. Some argued that it should be around the outside, while others said that it should be on the inside. Everyone involved in this discussion made valid points to support their thoughts There were issues raised for each of the two choices — environmental, economical and safety.

Gagnon said that a path inside Ring Road is “highly unlikely” because of the ditches right around the inside of the road. Since they have water running through them most of the time, they are considered wetlands. Since there are ditches in some areas along the outside as well, he said that a bike path would not be able to go all the way around the road. He said that it would probably be best to put a bike path further away from the roadway.

If a bike path is built around the road, this would call for the elimination of many or all Ring Road parking spaces. This would be a huge issue for a lot of people. Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Jean Kim said that the removal of these parking spaces has been discussed and is a possibility.

A third issue, brought up by an audience member was safety. If the path is to be built inside Ring Road there are a lot of parking lots that people go speeding out of without stopping. Bike riders and walkers could get hurt this way.

After this small debate no real conclusions were reached as to where a path should be built. However, many of the people who attended the luncheon left knowing more about the campus bike path project than they did when they arrived.

CAREER CORNER

Career Center holds 30th Annual Career Expo

By Colleen Foley

The UMass Dartmouth Career Resource Center hosted the 30th Annual Career Expo on Wednesday, April 9. Fifty recruiters from companies around New England came to the Woodland Commons to give students a chance to make contacts with their companies. The companies ranged in types of industries including government, business and technology.

Over 400 students participated in the event, including senior psychology major Katelyn Chase. When asked about her experience, Chase said, “Meeting the people in charge is always a good thing. I have about seven companies to visit today, and I’m hoping I’ll get an interview from one or two of them. It’s a lot easier to talk to them in this kind of setting.” Many students arrived with multiple resumes and plans of action to make sure they made the most of their time at the Expo.

This year’s crowd included General Dynamics/Electric Boat recruiters, Bill Mello, Jason Vlaun and Amanda Lombardi, who plan to help the company hire 100 engineers in 2008. According to them, “In the defense industry, with us going to two subs a year by 2012…our design and engineering workforce has a need to boost our numbers.”

Joe Riley, an employee of the Greater New Bedford Career Center seemed optimistic about the job market and the companies at the Expo. “There’s a recession, but there are still a lot of companies hiring. You’ll see a lot of government contractors hiring. There’s a lot of seasonal hiring as well. We’re still able to put a lot of people into the workforce.” Riley mentioned that the Acushnet Company and Associates of Cape Cod are two major companies that will need seasonal work in the upcoming months.

Many companies choose to come to the UMass Dartmouth Career Expo because they think highly of the students. Ale Burke, a recruiter from Spherion said, “We basically believe that the students from UMass Dartmouth have very strong skills. Employers are looking for very specific skills, and those are the skills we are trying to find on behalf of our clients.”

Many other recruiters mentioned that UMass Dartmouth students graduate from the campus well-prepared and go on to do successful work in their respective fields.

For students who missed the Expo and are in search of jobs, do not hesitate to contact the Career Resource Center at 508.999.8661 or www.umassd.edu/crc. Any students who are looking for jobs in the area can contact the Greater New Bedford Career Center at 508-990-4138 or www.newbedfordcareercenter.com.

MassPIRG discusses 2007-2008 achievements

By Kavitha Giridhar

Global Warming

This semester, MassPIRG students at UMass Dartmouth played an integral role in helping pass the Global Warming Solutions Act through the State Senate. They collected over 700 petition signatures, created media attention on the issue and established a relationship with local senators.

MassPIRG also helped to organize Focus the Nation — a national teach-in on global warming. UMass Dartmouth, along withover 1,500 other universities and colleges participated in one of the largest teach-ins in history. There were panels, speakers and events ranging from a presentation on local climate change and action by Representative Tony Cabral and former New Bedford Mayor John Bullard to a symposium by the Panchamama Alliance.

MassPIRG is also a cosponsor of the Sustainability Film Series and the upcoming Green Week, which will include prominent speakers including Van Jones and Richard Heinberg, music and a green fair.

Currently student intern, Nate Damon, is conducting a survey on student and faculty attitudes towards sustainability — the results will be used in the Campus Sustainability Assessment.

Hunger and Homelessness

Last December MassPIRG students Nady Pina and Tho Pham organized a Toy Drive that collected over 50 toys for the Conway House.

This semester, the students have been working on a variety of fundraisers from Dorm Storms to the Hoops for Hunger basketball tournament to the Hunger Cleanup in an effort to raise $1000 for local, national and international agencies fighting against hunger and homelessness.

Water Watch

On April 19, Taeler Conrad and Megan Donofrio have organized an Earth Day Beach Cleanup bringing together UMass Dartmouth students and local high school students.

Credit Cards

Students collected surveys from their peers on student attitudes towards credit cards and credit card marketing on campus. We later held a press conference on a report that contained the survey results from over 1,500 students including UMass Dartmouth students.

MassPIRG members have also been working to increase awareness about debt and good credit card management through tabling and co-hosting the documentaries “Maxed Out” and “In Debt We Trust” with SIFE and the Office of Sustainability.

Affordable Textbooks:

MassPIRG students are currently helping to promote alternatives to buying expensive textbooks. MassPIRG set up an online book swap where students can directly sell or buy their books from other UMass Dartmouth students.

Some students also spoke to their professors to collect support for an open textbook campaign. Open textbooks are academically equal to traditional textbooks but are much cheaper or even free. Open textbooks are an affordable alternative to textbooks and can also compete with expensive textbooks to drive down prices.

Statewide, MassPIRG has passed a bill out of a Senate committee that will require publishers to follow a set of disclosure practices about the price of their books when selling them in Massachusetts. Student Senate President Stephanie Luz, along with many other student government presidents across the state, endorses the bill.

What is MassPIRG?

Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG) is a statewide, student-directed, student-funded organization working to solve real social problems — from the unaffordable cost of textbooks and higher education to global warming to the plight of those in hunger.

For 30 years, students who have been involved with MassPIRG campus chapters have not only learned how to investigate a problem and come up with a practical solution but they have also learned how to convince the media and decision-makers to pay attention and take action.

In other words, through MassPIRG they gain an educational experience in democratic citizenship. In addition, they get a chance to face up to society’s big problems, take action, and win concrete changes that improve the quality of their lives and the lives of others.

The thing that makes MassPIRG effective is that students at UMass Dartmouth and all around Massachusetts have voted to fund a chapter on campus through a per student, per semester $9 waive-able fee so that they can hire their own professional staff such as scientists, advocates, lawyers and organizers who work on the behalf of students’ interests in Boston and in Washington, D.C.

When students work together with the professional staff they get real results.

Kavithat Giridhar
MassPIRG Campus Organizer

TOPICS IN MENTAL HEALTH

Learning to relax: Mind, body and soul

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”  ~Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne

Imagine this: you’re stretched out on a soft blanket, the sand warm all around you. As you lie there, you feel the sun warming your face and listen to the soft hissing sounds of the surf, lapping the sand near your feet. An occasional seagull call sounds above the waves. You can smell the salt air on the wind that gently blows through your hair…

If you were really able to imagine this scene, using all of your senses, you are likely feeling more relaxed now, both physically and mentally, than you were before you began. Given all the stressors that life brings—academic, personal, and familial—how can you achieve this kind of relaxed state and maintain some part of it in your day to day life? In this article I will outline some strategies for relaxation and talk about some ways to incorporate these into your life on a regular basis, regardless of any external stressors.

It is self-evident that when we are relaxed we feel good, but what many people don’t realize is that this subjective sense of feeling good may actually be accompanied by physical health benefits. According to researchers like Herbert Benson, regular relaxation (combined with other self-care practices) can help prevent or control all kinds of health problems including: high blood pressure, eczema, acne, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine headaches, depression, anxiety, herpes, endometriosis, insomnia and many, many others.

And yet, despite these clear benefits and the good feeling elicited by relaxing, there are many people who feel they don’t have the time or ability to incorporate regular relaxation practices into their lives. Over and over again I hear people say that their lives are too hectic, too stressful, for them to relax. These are the times that you need relaxation the most!

We all have lives that are, at least sometimes, busy and stressful. But there are things that you can do, some of which take only a few minutes, to bring a sense of relaxation even in the midst of stress.

Deep Breathing Exercises

One strategy for promoting relaxation is to use deep breathing exercises. These are really easy and very effective. All you need to do is take a long, slow, deep breath in through your nose, making sure you fill your lungs completely. As you inhale, allow your belly to push outward, making it as full as you can. Once you’ve inhaled completely, then you will exhale completely—again, through your nose with a long, slow breath. As you exhale, pull your belly in to help push out all the air in your lungs. (It can help to close your eyes while you’re doing this as a way to minimize distraction and help you really focus on your breath.) That’s it! Breathing in this manner for only two to three minutes a day will dramatically reduce stress and help you relax both physically and mentally. The more you practice this, the easier it will become and the more quickly you will feel the benefits. Because this is inconspicuous and quick, it is also something that you can do anywhere, anytime: in class, in the mall, outside, in your room or in bed while trying to go to sleep.

Meditation

Another way to help you relax is to do some form of meditation. Often when I mention meditation, people quickly respond, “I can’t do that.” But there are some easy ways to get into a meditative state that don’t require you sit in the lotus position and empty your mind of all thought. For example, there are guided meditation websites you can use in which a pretty image will come on your computer screen and a voice will talk your through a relaxation exercise. All you have to do is lie on your bed and listen! Two websites that offer this include: http://www.audiodharma.org/talks-guidemediation.html and http://www.learningmeditation.com/room.htm.

A second easy way to get into a meditative state is to engage in an activity that is somewhat repetitive and that doesn’t require a lot of thought. Examples of such activities include: running, sewing, walking, fishing and drawing. Most of us have had the experience of being so absorbed in something that time passes without our realizing it. Usually this happens when we’re engaged in an activity like the ones I’ve mentioned above where we get into what’s called a “flow state.” This is a kind of meditation!

Other Techniques

Some other easy relaxation strategies include: lying down listening to music, imagining a scene in which you were really relaxed in as much detail as you can, doing yoga, stretching and laughing. Part of this process will be trial and error in that you may have to try a few things before you find what works best for you. The key is to get really good at noticing when you’re stressed, trying one of these interventions, and then noticing what it feels like to be relaxed. Once you’ve really tuned in to what your body and mind feel like when relaxed, you’ll be more able to recapture this state again. It’s within you, so you can have it any time you want!

Part of learning to relax involves making relaxation a priority. This might sound odd, but for many people getting things done is more of a priority than relaxing. It certainly is important to attend to daily responsibilities, but what I’m suggesting is that there are ways to get things done while maintaining a relaxed awareness rather than an internal state of stress. If you can practice some form of relaxation exercise (like the ones I’ve described above) every day, you will likely notice that you have increased energy and focus to get things done in other realms of your life. When you decrease your stress level, you’re actually more productive.

If you or someone you know needs help finding ways to relax, feel free to contact the Counseling Center for assistance. If you have questions or comments about the information presented in this article, please direct emails to rachel.lively@umassd.edu.

Rachel Lively, Psy.D.
Counseling Center

STATE OF THE QUEER NATION

GED program launches for GLBT youth

According to the GLASS website (www.bostonglass.org), “26 percent of adolescent gay males are forced to leave their homes after revealing their sexual orientation. 25 to 40 percent of homeless, throwaway, and runaway youth identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. 50 percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are rejected by their parents after disclosing their sexual orientation.” That’s why the Justice Resource Institute (JRI) launched “A Gateway to Success” via the Boston Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (Boston GLASS) Center, with the help of Verizon and IBM.

GLASS’s mission, according to their website states, “Through a comprehensive set of educational opportunities, recreational activities, and social services, Boston GLASS Community Center strives to provide a safe physical, emotional, and intellectual environment that promotes the healthy development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.” They offer “a safe space to hang out at, make new friends, and just relax. [They] have a darkroom, computer stations, a library, a TV room, and a kitchen where you can grab a bite to eat. [They] also [have] a staff of full-time professionals here to offer support on things going on in your life.”

The program set up by JRI “will prepare students by using Thinkfinity.org, the Verizon Foundation’s free, comprehensive online portal that features 55,000 educational resources. They include standards-based, grade-specific K-12 lesson plans and interactive tools and materials provided in partnership with many of the nation’s leading educational organizations.” They received a $75,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation and IBM donated “10 new computers…to support the new initiative.”

“Boston GLASS will be the first community-based setting to have a formal agreement with Verizon to use the Thinkfinity program to prepare students for the GED tests to obtain a high school equivalency diploma.” Douglas M. Brooks, Vice President of Health Services for JRI said, “We are grateful for the partnership with the Verizon Foundation and IBM… In many cases, these teens have been forced to leave their homes, and for many of them their education ends when they leave their communities and must devote their time to supporting themselves.”

A program like the “Gateway to Success” that GLASS is implementing is an incredible step toward reducing the high numbers of homeless and runaway GLBT youth in our area. Statistics show that GLBT or queer students feel less safe at school. 20 percent of GLBT students skipped school in the past month because of feeling unsafe on route to or at school as opposed to six percent of other students, and 24.4 percent GLBT students have been threatened or injured with a weapon at school within the past year compared to 8.2 percent of other students (http://www.bostonglass.org/whoweserve.htm).

GLASS and “A Gateway to Success” can be reached by phone at 617-266-3349 or check out their website at www.bostonglass.org. The GLASS website also has a number of resources for GLBT youth, food and housing, health, legal, sexual assault or sexual abuse, domestic violence, and suicide under “hotlines and links.”

Melanie Correia
Secretary
Pride Alliance