EDITOR'S FINAL WORDS

State of the UMass Dartmouth campus

Looking back on changes that impacted our school

By Jeff Trull

This year was as exciting as any, at least from an editor’s standpoint. Big events came and went. Students saw plenty of changes around campus, some embraced and others reviled. The following is my assessment of how the school and related organizations and departments handled these popular issues over the entire academic year.

On-Campus Housing

Coming into the year, I thought things were really looking up for housing. Beds were debunked, and life went back to normal in the Woodlands community. The new recycling program in the dorms was a huge plus for me, and I’m glad it will be extended to all dorms next year.

This year went by with almost no major mishaps. The card swipes that turned off after 7 p.m. were an annoyance, but that problem qickly dissipated. With nexy year’s housing sign-ups rolling around this spring, announcements of new themed housing were a step in the right direction to get things back on track. Cedar Dell West’s reopening meant that more housing would be available this coming year, as well. Despite the deletion of 21-plus housing and allowing students to live anywhere they choose next year, I penciled housing selection in for a victory. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The campus buzz the last few days has been how badly housing is screwed up for next year. Some students who put down a deposit did not even get to pick a room because everything all rooms were full. These students now must wait to find out if they will have any housing next year. Another issue is that older students, presumably those who will be seniors next year, have pulled in current freshman to the Woodlands and Cedar Dell. This has left some juniors, most of whom turn 21 during the next school year, stuck in Oak Glen, a dry hall that is traditionally home to sophomores. In the past, sophomores hadn’t been able to live in parts of the Dell or Woodland areas because they didn’t have enough credits or weren’t old enough, or both. With age and credit requirements eliminated, these students have essentially jumped over a class by being pulled in and have stolen upperclassman housing. Personally I would be very angry myself if I had to live in Oak Glen when I already lived there for one year and was about to turn 21. With this issue still playing out, it appears that housing has regressed to the turmoil of years past.

Parking

Students were quick to criticize parking fees, which were implemented for the first time on the UMass Dartmouth campus this year. The $150 charge for resident students and $100 for commuters seemed costly to some, but is a bargain compared to other college campuses. While some deem the parking fees unnecessary, I simply believed it was an inevitability.

Many students wondered what changes, if any, would be made with the new revenue from fees. Some progress has been made with various safety improvements like new call boxes. Cameras have been promised soon, as well. Parking rules have been enforced strictly yet fairly. While I have seen many tickets given to cars parked illegally or without parking passes, I think these penalties are justified.

The only major fault I find is that parking options have not been improved a whole lot. Parking around some dorms and other buildings is scarce, forcing students to walk longer than desirable distances. For the majority of cases, however, walking to cars is tolerable and students shouldn’t have much of a complaint.

Safety

The UMD community saw some startling crimes and a few scary moments. There were several high-profile crimes on campus, including a few armed robberies. The “non-specific threat” scared some students. Vandalism to cars and other minor crimes are still a regular occurrence, as well. Although there seemed to be many crimes on campus, none of these events drastically changed anyone’s day-to-day life on campus. Public Safety did a good job of notifying students of these crimes and making students aware of reasonable ways to protect themselves. Students may have kept these events in mind, but I don’t believe anyone felt a great deal less safe on campus. I have never felt unsafe being on campus at any point.

A few safety improvements were made this year and promises for the future will hopefully make the campus even safer. More officers were hired to protect our school and our students. The campus finally got an emergency callbox upgrade after a lengthy delay. Security cameras are in the works for the future (fingers crossed), hopefully making the parking lots safer for students. While the speed at which new safety measures are implemented is frustrating at times, improvements are on the way.

Overall campus safety is moving in the right direction, it’s just taking a little while to get there. I’m sure most students would feel better with less theft and violent crime on campus, but that is a tough goal to attain.

Activities and Entertainment

The majority of the events on campus this year were humdrum. I can’t think of many events that I was really excited about. The UMass Dartmouth Theatre Company and 20 Cent Fiction came through with shows that were definitely worth seeing. However, I lost interest in the parade of stand-up comedians that made their way through this year. Shawn Kingston proved be a huge flop with the event failing to attract many UMD students. The $20 admission price tag only added insult to injury with this poor selection for the spring concert. Finally, “Springfest,” which was scheduled for last Saturday, was rained out and moved to a Wednesday, becoming the epitome of a disappointing year for CAB.

The creation of SAIL Weekend Events proved to be the big winner to me. With events like ice skating or free shows or bus trips scheduled for every weekend, a valiant effort was made to keep students on the UMD campus for the weekends. Although the organization seemed to lose a little steam towards the end of the year, I was impressed by the effort and encouraged that it will improve in future year. Creating events and other things for students to do is the ONLY way that students will ever be motivated to stay here on weekends.

Final Words

As my final words, I would like to say it has been exciting to cover all of these issues over the course of the year. I have heard many students talking about these important happenings on campus that my fellow writers and I have written about in the Torch. While discussing issues is important, acting on issues is vital. It’s a shame when students care so much about an issue but fail to act on it. The student body is a powerful force, and the future of our campus will depend on when and how students respond to the issues they care about most. I encourage every student to find some way to get involved and make an impact on this campus, whatever that may be.

SOUL SIGHTINGS

Let your conscience be your guide

I remember a scene in the film “Doctor Zhivago” where the title character, in desperate poverty during the Russian Revolution, tears some boards off of a wall to burn and provide heat for his family.

He is caught red-handed by a Russian police officer (no pun intended), who, unbeknownst to him, is in fact his own brother (and also actor Sir Alec “Obi-Wan” Guinness). The officer lets him go—normally the new communist government dealt with thievery harshly.

In the film, Dr. Zhivago is a man of great conscience, even a tortured conscience. But evidently his conscience did not trouble him that night, while taking a few boards for fuel — despite an extremely punishing climate against stealing. His family’s health was more important to him.

 One seriously wonders about the whereabouts of conscience today. Do the consciences of two young men bother them, willing to stick up a college student on campus for his valuables?

Does anything inside of them tell them, “Don’t do it,” as they begin to pull the threatening knife out of a pocket, just before they confront their victim?

Were they raised with teachings or ethics in their families, which coded their minds with any moral self-awareness? Could they make eye contact with their victim with no inner-flinch or warning voice?

 Christian teaching suggests that people have a soul and a spirit. God gives each person also a wonderful (and somewhat mystical) thing called a conscience, which operates somewhere in that zone between the soul, spirit and mind. The conscience tells us when things we do are good or bad, or even before we do them.

Can we hear our consciences today?  I wish this summer for our whole university community, that we would hear our consciences and grow by their boundaries.

Blessings on everyone this summer!     

Rev. Neil Damgaard
Protestant Chaplain

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Unity House aims to unite, not separate, minority students

The Frederick Douglass Unity House upholds its original vision as a center that supports and affirms students of color on a predominately white campus. However, through its services and programs, the Unity House is a place for all students to engage in learning and to explore the world of diversity. I believe the university is the perfect setting for dialogue around issues of diversity, race, poverty, equality and unity.

Diversity is you, whether you like to see it that way or not. You are unlike anyone who has ever been or will ever be. That’s what makes you interesting. No one can excuse herself or himself from this absolute truth. Even our DNA now testifies of our differences and our similarities. That is diversity worth understanding! It is not the responsibility of the minority to uphold diversity’s central principles. Diversity is not a black thing. At the center of diversity is the responsibility of each individual to unconditionally recognize each other’s unique and cherished contributions to humanity.

To call diversity “separatist” is a gross misrepresentation of the concept, when at its core, it is an intrepid unifier. In the little bit of time that I’ve been here at UMass Dartmouth I’ve noticed that some say that the Frederick Douglass Unity House is practicing separatism and self segregation. Minority students, just like majority students, need a place to hang out and in comparison, white students undoubtedly have more places to hang out or call their own. And what does Unity House do? You may or may not know. We do programming that reaches across racial, ethnic, cultural lines. This is far from separatist.

Separatism comes when we begin to assume we have nothing in common. Someone once said, “We are more diverse on the inside than we are on the outside.” I truly believe this. I beg to differ with anyone who says that diversity is divisive and unworthy of his or her consideration and reflection. That is pure and refined arrogance in my opinion.

Diversity is a concept that requires critical thinking and courage from individuals. Diversity is only for those who want to understand and find creative solutions for our human inaccuracy. Diversity is as necessary as, say, effective communication.

For instance, pick a friend’s brain about the issue of religion, poverty, abortion, race or any issue that matters to you. I assure you no one on the planet thinks about it exactly like you do, even those who most closely believe like you.

Why does the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth value the importance of having designated space for minority students and majority students to hang out? To enhance the student learning experiences outside the classroom, to retain and graduate students.

Imagine, if you will, a white student attending Howard University in Washington, D.C. (a historically-black university which many white students choose to attend). As a white student, you deserve to be respected and represented like all of the other students. As a white student (at Howard) you notice that wherever you go on campus people see you. If you miss class the teacher knows and so does everyone else. So when you hang out with other white students you may be seen as a gang by the predominate group. You may appear to be self segregating. Sometimes you feel alone and afraid, awkward and isolated.

So what are a culturally competent university staff and student body to do for this student who may be more likely to drop out or feel excluded?

Administrators ask the student and staff to critically think about how they might create an environment of inclusion that this student might feel welcome and valued. They might ask, “How do we retain them and help them succeed?” They apply the same standard and questions they ask about the majority group on campus to the minority group. This is fairness demonstrated. Creating a Unity House or a Diversity Awareness program is a practical solution for these students on the fringes of a campus’ social network.

These sorts of spaces may seem unnecessary to some, but I assure you that to the small group of minority students and many white students and staff on campus, it is a direct way of saying: “We value what all student contributions to a campus therefore we will prioritize by investing in space and programs for all students.

Hypothetically mis-reading “Unity House” as a separatist place is like slapping your minority brothers and sisters in the face. Barack Obama in his speech on race said, “we all need to participate in creating a more perfect union.” If you don’t like something, you can voice it, but at least think beyond the surface of the issues you consider. More importantly, think about how you will maintain a respectful relationship before you make assumption about your brother or sister, a space or a group.

I’ve heard at UMass we don’t seem to have any diversity requirements for students. I recommend that we work towards this end even thought some student, staff, and faculty will inevitably resist it. They will ridicule it call it illogical, nonsensical, strange and meaningless? Other will appreciate it. UMass can join other progressive universities by preparing student to be culturally competent leaders for the ever changing global marketplace.

In an increasingly diverse culture like American culture (which happens to champion diversity as a strength), it would be remiss for us all not to try to understand those who are not like us. How better to do this than to make it a part of a degree program.

The way to bring unity is to worship, to sing, to eat, to talk, to listen, to educate, to learn, to respect, to cry and to laugh with each other. That’s the true picture of diversity. The paradox? Diversity is an intrepid unifier. At diversity’s core is the practice of individual compassion and humility in our common ignorance. It understands power and privilege and how these two components play out in the real world experiences of individuals. Diversity seeks to unite us by exposing our wrong assumptions of one another and in so doing fearlessly confronts inequity and injustices in our society. Diversity: the intrepid unifier!

Keith R. Wilder
Assistant Dean of Students/ Director, Frederick Douglass Unity House

FROM PEER HEALTH EDUCATORS

Good Samaritan Protocol needed at UMD

I entered higher education with my ears ringing from constant chatter about alcohol being a part of the “college experience.” Booze is a common fixture on our campus. It is a tool used by students to socialize, party and relax. The majority of students are safe drinkers — that is, 98% of students reported using one or more techniques when drinking during the past school year such as keeping track of how many drinks being consumed, eating before or during drinking, predetermining a maximum amount of drinks for a night, and pacing. But we know this is not absolute for every person or every time they drink.

This is why the Good Samaritan Protocol should be adopted here at UMass Dartmouth before the onset of the 2008-2009 school year. The protocol entails: if assistance from Public Safety, police, residential life staff, or medical professionals is requested and administered to an intoxicated student, “neither the intoxicated individual nor the individual who assists will be subject to formal university disciplinary actions for being intoxicated or having provided that person alcohol.” Assistance to the intoxicated individual will be given by Public Safety who will “facilitate transport to medical facilities or by taking other protective measures.”

The Good Samaritan Protocol was created to “represent the University’s commitment to increasing the likelihood that community members will call for medical assistance when faced with an alcohol related emergency... also promotes education for individuals who receive emergency medical attention related to their own use of alcohol in order to reduce the likelihood of future occurrences.”

Although the Good Samaritan protocol is currently practiced on campus, there is nothing in writing to guarantee it. So a student with strikes or on probation with housing may not make the call in an emergency situation because it is not a sure thing they will be granted amnesty.

Whether or not an intoxicated student receives the needed medical assistance can vary greatly. On campus, those who are over the legal drinking age of 21 would not hesitate to call public safety for help. However, underage drinkers will balk at dialing 9191 from fear of facing disciplinary actions from the university.

When discussing the Good Samaritan Protocol with my friends, one peer, who wished to remain anonymous, said “I wish the policy was in place years ago.” She went on to tell about an incident that happened during the first semester of her freshman year in one of the underclassman dorms. “One of my guy friends was getting way drunker than the rest of us. We lost count of how many Jello shots he took…after he disappeared for a while, his roommate finally found him passed out next to the toilet. I wanted to call for help but the roommate stopped me, saying he already had a strike and would get kicked out of housing…Luckily he regained consciousness and was okay, but it was scary.”

Students should recognize that signs of serious intoxication include: passing out; inability to rouse the person with shouting or shaking; going in or out of consciousness or semi-consciousness; slow or irregular breathing; weak, rapid, or slow pulse; cold, clammy, or bluish skin; incoherent or passed out while vomiting or not waking up after vomiting. Help should be sought if any one of these signs are present “as they indicate a potentially life-threatening emergency.”

The bottom line of the Good Samaritan Protocol is its potential to save student’s lives. Many forget alcohol is actually a drug. In fact, it is the most misused drug in the country. Consuming only a few drinks spanned over a whole night can result in a feel-good buzz. Drinking too much in a small window of time can result in alcohol poisoning, which may cause a more permanent symptom: death. Many students don’t realize the break blood alcohol level occurs 60-90 minutes after ingestion when the stomach is empty. This means a student will continue to get more intoxicated even after the last sip of alcohol. They will continue to get worse, not better.

It is essential to establish the Good Samaritan Protocol here on campus because of these dangers of alcohol and the lack of education surrounding booze. I’ve heard countless stories of students trying to bypass calling public safety for an intoxicated friend by administrating home remedies themselves. What they don’t realize is techniques like putting their drunken friend in a cold shower, making them walk around, slapping or punching to wake them up, or giving food, water, or aspirin can actually harm more than it can help.

We, the Peer Health Educators, want this protocol to pass and be initiated by the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year because the sooner it is a set policy, the sooner it will help students. Also, come September there will be a whole new freshman class ready to participate in the age old college traditions. They will enter the “danger zone”, a time in the 1st semester of freshman year where students are at the highest risk for injury by alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, and other harms.

Personally, it’s especially important to have the policy established by this coming September because my younger brother will be joining the freshman class. I want him to know he or his friends can call for medical assistance when drinking without fear of judicial actions.

While most support this policy, some believe the students involved shouldn’t get away without repercussions. The protocol mandates, “the intoxicated student(s) must agree to timely completion of recommended alcohol education activities, assessment, and/or treatment…” While the Good Samaritan Protocol is not limited to one time use, multiple occurrences may be dealt with more seriously. Also, the protocol states the student will still face “disciplinary action regarding other violations of university standards such as causing or threatening physical harm, sexual assault, damage to property, harassment, hazing, etc.”

As of now, the policy is still in draft form awaiting review by committee. Currently it only covers alcohol-related emergencies. It is our hope it may be expanded later to include medical amnesty for other drugs. This is important because some students use other drugs recreationally with alcohol, not knowing potentially deadly consequences. For example, when opiates such as OxyCotin, Percocet, and Vicodin are mixed with booze they depress the respiratory system, slowing breathing to the point where death can result.

We are encouraging the UMass Dartmouth campus and community to support instituting the Good Samaritan Policy for the onset of the 2008-2009 school year. Our aim is not to promote underage drinking on campus, rather we seek to remove obstacles for students searching for assistance. At the same time, we hope to take charge of this opportunity on educating students about the signs of alcohol poisoning and safe drinking practices. Overall we hope to keep our peers, the students of UMass Dartmouth, safe from harm.

Jennifer Masztal
with Beth-Anne Veira and
the UMass Dartmouth
Peer Health Educators