UMD implements new parking system

Parking fees and designated parking areas come to UMD

By Chris Donovan

Every year there are numerous complaints about the UMass Dartmouth parking system. A new system has been implemented in hopes that it will alleviate many past problems while increasing safety and the ability to get around campus.

With the new parking system, everyone who wants to park on campus must receive a parking pass, which will hang on the rear view mirror in their car. There are four different color tags. Red tags represent residents from the traditional and sophomore residence halls, green tags represent students living in the Woodland Commons, blue tags are for Cedar Dell residents, and orange tags are for commuter students. Anyone who parks in an area that is not designated for the tag they have will be ticketed.

Director of Campus Services, Jeff Augustine understands that this is a culture change for people; however he feels that “[the University] can’t afford to give two spots to one person.”

Augustine estimates that almost 800-1000 commuter/faculty/staff spots get taken by residents who are driving their cars up for class, parking in the commuter/faculty/staff spots, and then returning to their dorms after.

The new parking rules will be strictly enforced by public safety. The university hired an additional nine officers to start this semester, which means amongst other things, more manpower to monitor parking lots.

Currently, the issue of visitor parking is in discussion. It is a possibility that visitors will have to pay $2 at the front of campus to receive a one day parking pass. “It is not a final decision yet,” said Augustine.

Students have until 5 p.m. on Friday, September 14, to get their parking passes. After that time students who currently have a temporary resident permit will be issued a parking permit. “If you don’t pick up your pass, you lose your privilege,” said Augustine. He states that “there are no plans to deny anyone parking; the goal is to control where people park.”

The money raised from the parking fees is going to a multitude of services that will “Provide a secure environment, more than anything else,” according to Augustine. These services will all focus on safety and transportation on campus.

The first changes have been the cutting back of trees that block lighting and the addition of a shuttle bus called the Dart BlueLine Express. The BlueLine helps transport students around campus from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Blueline stops at the Campus Center, Woodlands cross walk, Cedar Dell South, Lot #13 entrance and the Residence Halls’ cross walk on a continuous schedule.

The next step in the plan includes strategically placing seven new call boxes around campus within the next six to eight weeks, conducting a lighting assessment that will estimate the cost of replacing lights, and getting security cameras.

According to Augustine lots 7 through 10 will be the first to see these new security cameras, with three cameras in each lot, as they “have seen the most vandalism.” The goal is to have cameras in every lot within the next five years.

Friday farmers market

By Ellie Early

Seniors Jenna Balinski and Ellie Early sell local produce at the first farmers market of the semester. Farmers markets will be held weekly on the Campus Center Patio through October 20.

What will the students of UMass Dartmouth eat now that they have returned to campus? The champions of nutrition and seekers of tastiness need look no further than the on-campus Farmers Market, which will occur every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

UMass Dartmouth hosts a weekly farmers market on the patio outside the Campus Center every Friday. It will end with two big market days on the October 19 and 20.

Faculty, staff, and students seem bent toward local food and more sustainable choices. The redecorating of the residence cafeteria is not the only change in on-campus dinning. When shoppers pick up apples or pears, they should take note — it may have been grown on Noquochoke Orchards right down the street in Westport.

Getting local food into Sodexho school cafeterias is no easy feat. Sodexho Inc. purchases cheap foreign food and centralizes distribution, making it easy for our Residential Dining to order all the meals students need from one phone number. Res Caf staff put in more time and effort to buy local produce like Noquochoke pears and apples.

Signs will indicate the baskets holding this local fruit. At Brown University, campus apple consumption doubled when it replaced its apples previously sourced from South America with apples from Rhode Island.

Another integral organization supporting local food and connecting Res Caf with Noquochoke Orchards is South Eastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP). SEMAP connects local growers with farmers markets, restaurants, businesses, and now UMass Dartmouth Dining Services!

Why should students eat a locally grown heirloom tomato instead of a flavor-saver cloned tomato slapped on a Wendy’s meat patty from the southern hemisphere? Local food is fresher. It only has to travel a few Massachusetts roads to get to UMD. Foreign produce travels across borders, down interstates, in and out of warehouses, into stores and restaurants, and somehow finally to consumers.

If someone buys locally grown foods, that means they are cutting down their carbon foot print. The food travels only 10 to 100 miles to get to consumers, and now the convenient Friday market allows students, faculty and staff to walk up pay cash and get fresh produce.

Farmers Markets have appeared on campus for the last two years in mid October to accompany the Bioneers by the Bay Conference. This year students, faculty, and staff are supporting a weekly farmers market.

The first UMD Farmers Market of the semester was small. Last Friday’s market featured Kettle Pond Farm from Berkley, MA, a certified organic farm vending 50 kinds of heirloom tomatoes, many varieties of peppers, egg plant, carrots, beets, beans, greens, lettuce, and later in the season will include squash and pumpkins. Non-organic corn from Hillside Farms in Dartmouth was and will be sold by the Social Change Society for 50 cents an ear. Profits will fund students’ tickets for the Bioneers by the Bay Conference in October.

There are many more farmers markets in the area. Padanaram Farmers Market also happens on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in South Dartmouth. Westport Farmers Market takes place on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. Many farmers are committed to markets at the beginning of the season, so only a limited number can make UMD’s Friday markets. However the October 19-20 market will have many more farms, orchards, honey stands, and bakeries. Any farmers who want to join the market or anyone with questions, please email Ellie Early at u_eearly@umassd.edu.

There are only seven total this year. The Friday markets could fill that empty space in your stomach and meal plan. Buy fresh, buy local and eat well.

Farmers and vendors sell their locally grown produce to students and faculty. Ketlle Pond Farm was the first farm featured.

Roselle Arpino, Ashley Cunningham and Annie Willis head S.C.A.L.E.’s table at UMD’s first farmers market last Friday.

UMass Dartmouth welcomes new Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

By Ryan Gallagher

Dr. Jean Kim, UMass Dartmouth’s new Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, can be found in room 223, to the right of the SAIL Office. She was not difficult to find, proudly sporting the school colors and a smile as she explained her attire. “Today is Dress down Friday, but you have to wear at least one school color,” she said as she explained her desire for an increase in school spirit.

Kim lived in South Korea until the age of twelve when her mother married an American soldier who was sent for to live in the United States. “The first six months were dramatic, with cultural differences and not knowing any English or ways of communication,” explained Kim.

“Like many first generation students, I am a product of public education,” noted Kim, who received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Sociology and Doctrine in counseling psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “I value higher education,” she added.

“UMass Amherst worked fine for me, because I knew what I wanted to focus on. Sociology really fascinated me about group dynamics and how society changes and evolves.”

“In college I worked as a live-in resident director in student affairs and fell in love with the associations of the students and working on an individual basis.”

Now, 29 years later, she still feels passionate about her work. “It’s lots of fun providing leadership, focusing on the student to succeed and making a difference in lives even indirectly,” Kim exclaimed.

Before coming to UMass Dartmouth, Kim was Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and before that she was Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Whether she is working at public schools, private school sor universities, Kim is focused on the individual student, as she described what she would like to see perfected here at UMass Dartmouth. “A little more student centered, focus on how we do our work from student’s point of views. Personalize attention and reducing as much red tape as possible, user friendly, if you will. To clarify what we expect of students, how does it contribute to there goals and how we can prove what we are doing basing decisions on solid data.”

Wanting to interact with the students, one on one Kim has put some things in place to ensure a relationship with the student body. “It is important to maintain contact with students.”

Dr. Kim currently lives in Rhode Island but with the commute she stays in Oak Glen Hall during the week.

On a monthly basis email invitations will be sent out to the student body for “Conversations That Matter” dinners, with Kim. The first 12 to15 students who respond will be able to attend.

She also has a daily drop in hour for students to come into the student affairs office without an appointment between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Dr. Kim is holding a contest on what to name this drop in hour, the deadline is September 12, at 5 p.m. The winner will win a $100 Best Buy gift certificate.

Kim would like to teach a course at the university to maintain close contact with the student body.

Outside of school Kim loves to go walking, downhill skiing and hiking especially mountain hiking which she loved to do when she lived in Colorado. She also enjoys doing abstract paintings and at one point even considered majoring in it. Reading is also another enjoyment of Kim’s. “I like stories on life transforming experiences,” said Kim.

Some of the books she recommends are “Saving Fish from Drowning” by Amy Tan and the “The Joy Luck Club,” which is also a movie that Kim also recommends. “A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind was also an amazing story that touches your heart,” she said.

“Asian American writers impact my life. Racial identity is really important to me,” said Kim.

Over the summer she spent most her time at the beach which was conveniently five minutes away. The highlight of her summer was taking a road trip with her youngest daughter all the way from Rhode Island to Colorado where she is a junior in college.