News Topic - University of Massachusetts
Articles 1 - 10 of most recent articles
'Nuisance house' bylaw would target rowdy behavior
Violators could face a $300 ticket and police response costs.By DIANE LEDERMAN dlederman@repub.com AMHERST - Police and University of Massachusetts officials are hoping that Town Meeting later this month will approve a new bylaw that will give police a new way for handling rowdy parties. The Nuisance House bylaw would allow police to impose liability on property owners and others "for the nuisances and harm caused by loud and unruly gatherings on private property," according to the bylaw. Police would be able to write tickets for a civil infraction which would bear a $300 fine and could assess response costs on the property's owner. Hadley passed a similar bylaw at Town Meeting earlier this month. The bylaw was created with comments from police, landlords, UMass and others and seen as another tool for police, said Capt. Michael R. Kent in explaining the bylaw to the Select Board recently. Kent said he doesn't see a violation being imposed for every party but on major parties which can cost the department "a substantial sum of money." And he said that the bylaw allows the landlord to be brought in and "if he hasn't started an eviction process (after a third violation within a year) he too could be held liable." Kent said that with Amherst adopting the bylaw in addition to Hadley the town "is sending a consistent message." And by being able to write tickets such as police can do for open container or noise violations, "it hits them (the violators) in the wallet immediately." "The ability to issue a ticket immediately is something," said Town Manager Laurence R. Shaffer. "This is all about changing behavior. It's not about the fines," he said. "Hopefully it will reduce the calls. What we're trying to do is compress the problem." The Select Board and Finance Committee support the bylaw. In its report to Town Meeting, the Finance Committee wrote that "the bylaw will be a deterrent to unwanted behavior that requires considerable time of our Police Department, and will consequently decrease the pressure on scheduling and overtime."
MassLive.com – 11 hours, 29 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
Violators could face a $300 ticket and police response costs.By DIANE LEDERMAN dlederman@repub.com AMHERST - Police and University of Massachusetts officials are hoping that Town Meeting later this month will approve a new bylaw that will give police a new way for handling rowdy parties. The Nuisance House bylaw would allow police to impose liability on property owners and others "for the nuisances and harm caused by loud and unruly gatherings on private property," according to the bylaw. Police would be able to write tickets for a civil infraction which would bear a $300 fine and could assess response costs on the property's owner. Hadley passed a similar bylaw at Town Meeting earlier this month. The bylaw was created with comments from police, landlords, UMass and others and seen as another tool for police, said Capt. Michael R. Kent in explaining the bylaw to the Select Board recently. Kent said he doesn't see a violation being imposed for every party but on major parties which can cost the department "a substantial sum of money." And he said that the bylaw allows the landlord to be brought in and "if he hasn't started an eviction process (after a third violation within a year) he too could be held liable." Kent said that with Amherst adopting the bylaw in addition to Hadley the town "is sending a consistent message." And by being able to write tickets such as police can do for open container or noise violations, "it hits them (the violators) in the wallet immediately." "The ability to issue a ticket immediately is something," said Town Manager Laurence R. Shaffer. "This is all about changing behavior. It's not about the fines," he said. "Hopefully it will reduce the calls. What we're trying to do is compress the problem." The Select Board and Finance Committee support the bylaw. In its report to Town Meeting, the Finance Committee wrote that "the bylaw will be a deterrent to unwanted behavior that requires considerable time of our Police Department, and will consequently decrease the pressure on scheduling and overtime."
MassLive.com – 11 hours, 29 minutes ago ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
Interim UMass chancellor Thomas Cole thanks faculty Senate
By DIANE LEDERMAN dlederman@repub.com AMHERST - University of Massachusetts Interim Chancellor Thomas W. Cole Jr. today thanked the faculty Senate for their support and encouragement during a time of transition. "You welcomed me," he said. "I owe you a debt of gratitude for your hospitality." Associated PressThomas W. Cole Jr. Taking the podium, Cole said, "this is not about to be an address" - he just wanted the opportunity to provide a few remarks to the Senate on its last meeting of the year. Cole was hired last August to take over for John V. Lombardi, who left to become president of Louisiana State University. UMass Board of Trustees earlier this month approved the appointment of Robert C. Holub as the next chancellor. Holub will become chancellor in August but will visit the campus in the interim and meet with Cole, who will help with the transition. Cole told the Senate that he will be around for a couple more months and would have the opportunity to talk again. Cole has often praised the university, and took the opportunity to do so again today. "This is a great time to be at UMass Amherst," he said. "All the vital signs are good." He said he is certain of continued progress. "There is no limit to what we do together," he said. He commended the chancellor search committee for its work and in hiring Holub. Cole was not a candidate for the permanent position. "I'll be around a couple of months and offload as much as I can to him," he said, a remark that drew chuckles. He said he has prepared some advice for Holub, who is currently the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Among the suggestions: "Be a scholar. Know something about union negotiations . . . Make decisions with great speed and without error. "Speak eloquently in words that charm and never offend." "When you tell them where to go, do so" in a way that makes them look forward to the journey. Professor and Senate member Maurianne Adams then read a resolution praising Cole and the several dozen in the audience applauded.
MassLive.com – May 16, 2008 02:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
By DIANE LEDERMAN dlederman@repub.com AMHERST - University of Massachusetts Interim Chancellor Thomas W. Cole Jr. today thanked the faculty Senate for their support and encouragement during a time of transition. "You welcomed me," he said. "I owe you a debt of gratitude for your hospitality." Associated PressThomas W. Cole Jr. Taking the podium, Cole said, "this is not about to be an address" - he just wanted the opportunity to provide a few remarks to the Senate on its last meeting of the year. Cole was hired last August to take over for John V. Lombardi, who left to become president of Louisiana State University. UMass Board of Trustees earlier this month approved the appointment of Robert C. Holub as the next chancellor. Holub will become chancellor in August but will visit the campus in the interim and meet with Cole, who will help with the transition. Cole told the Senate that he will be around for a couple more months and would have the opportunity to talk again. Cole has often praised the university, and took the opportunity to do so again today. "This is a great time to be at UMass Amherst," he said. "All the vital signs are good." He said he is certain of continued progress. "There is no limit to what we do together," he said. He commended the chancellor search committee for its work and in hiring Holub. Cole was not a candidate for the permanent position. "I'll be around a couple of months and offload as much as I can to him," he said, a remark that drew chuckles. He said he has prepared some advice for Holub, who is currently the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Among the suggestions: "Be a scholar. Know something about union negotiations . . . Make decisions with great speed and without error. "Speak eloquently in words that charm and never offend." "When you tell them where to go, do so" in a way that makes them look forward to the journey. Professor and Senate member Maurianne Adams then read a resolution praising Cole and the several dozen in the audience applauded.
MassLive.com – May 16, 2008 02:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
Ex-UMass Student In Stabbing Case Wins Support
Faculty and students at the University of Massachusetts want prosecutors to drop charges against a former student accused of stabbing of two men he says broke his dorm room window and taunted him with racial insults.
TheBostonChannel.com – May 12, 2008 09:36 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Boston
Faculty and students at the University of Massachusetts want prosecutors to drop charges against a former student accused of stabbing of two men he says broke his dorm room window and taunted him with racial insults.
TheBostonChannel.com – May 12, 2008 09:36 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Boston
Rice Plants That Resist Uptake Of Arsenic Could Ease Shortage
Genetically engineered rice plants that resist the uptake of toxic metals could boost production and ease the shortage of this staple crop in Asia, India and Bangladesh, where irrigation with contaminated groundwater has created soils with toxic levels of arsenic. More than 80 percent of the world's population depends on rice as a staple food, but production is dropping in the rice paddies of Bangladesh, parts of India and South and East Asia due to toxic levels of arsenic in the topsoil. Om Parkash of the University of Massachusetts Amherst leads a research team that uses genetic engineering to produce rice plants that block the uptake of arsenic, which could increase production of this valuable crop and provide safer food supplies for millions.
Science Daily – May 7, 2008 12:22 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Health: AIDS - HIV
Genetically engineered rice plants that resist the uptake of toxic metals could boost production and ease the shortage of this staple crop in Asia, India and Bangladesh, where irrigation with contaminated groundwater has created soils with toxic levels of arsenic. More than 80 percent of the world's population depends on rice as a staple food, but production is dropping in the rice paddies of Bangladesh, parts of India and South and East Asia due to toxic levels of arsenic in the topsoil. Om Parkash of the University of Massachusetts Amherst leads a research team that uses genetic engineering to produce rice plants that block the uptake of arsenic, which could increase production of this valuable crop and provide safer food supplies for millions.
Science Daily – May 7, 2008 12:22 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Health: AIDS - HIV
Cooperative View: New Evidence Suggests A Symbiogenetic Origin For The Centrosome
The origin of the centrosome has been controversial for many years. The theory of symbiogenesis as a mechanism of evolution has also stirred debate since it was introduced in the 1920s and subsequently elaborated in the 1960s by Lynn Margulis of University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Today, only two cellular components -- the mitochondria and the chloroplasts -- are generally accepted by evolutionary biologists as having a symbiogenetic origin. A new paper suggests that centrosomes are another likely candidate.
Science Daily – May 6, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Health: AIDS - HIV
The origin of the centrosome has been controversial for many years. The theory of symbiogenesis as a mechanism of evolution has also stirred debate since it was introduced in the 1920s and subsequently elaborated in the 1960s by Lynn Margulis of University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Today, only two cellular components -- the mitochondria and the chloroplasts -- are generally accepted by evolutionary biologists as having a symbiogenetic origin. A new paper suggests that centrosomes are another likely candidate.
Science Daily – May 6, 2008 04:00 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Health: AIDS - HIV
New UMass chancellor to take reins Aug. 1
The University of Massachusetts Board of Trusteees unanimously voted to accept Robert C. Holub as be the next leader of school's flagship campus in Amherst.
MassLive.com – May 6, 2008 12:56 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
The University of Massachusetts Board of Trusteees unanimously voted to accept Robert C. Holub as be the next leader of school's flagship campus in Amherst.
MassLive.com – May 6, 2008 12:56 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
Robert Holub to lead University of Massachusetts at Amherst
This morning's voice vote of the UMass Board of Trustees was unanimous.
MassLive.com – May 5, 2008 5:59 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
This morning's voice vote of the UMass Board of Trustees was unanimous.
MassLive.com – May 5, 2008 5:59 PM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
Police arrest 25 at Amherst 'Hoedown'
AMHERST - Police arrested 25 people late Saturday and early today, and three others were sent by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton with injuries related to the "Hobart Hoedown" near the campus of the University of Massachusetts.
MassLive.com – May 5, 2008 01:52 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
AMHERST - Police arrested 25 people late Saturday and early today, and three others were sent by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton with injuries related to the "Hobart Hoedown" near the campus of the University of Massachusetts.
MassLive.com – May 5, 2008 01:52 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Massachusetts: Springfield
USC Panel may pick 3 presidential finalists by June
USC’s presidential search committee could conclude its work and recommend three finalists to the Board of Trustees as early as the end of June, chairman Miles Loadholt said Thursday.Loadholt, who will take over as board chairman this summer, said the pool of candidates includes sitting presidents at other universities.The board has set July 31 as a tentative deadline to hire a new president. President Andrew Sorensen is scheduled to retire from the presidency and assume a teaching position in the School of Medicine on that date, but he has said he would stay on if the committee takes longer to hire his successor.Loadholt’s comments followed news that Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences, had withdrawn his candidacy in the search for a new chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Pastides taught at that institution for 18 years.On Wednesday, when UMass President Jack Wilson nominated the provost from the University of Tennessee for the UMass post, Pastides would not comment on how he had fared in that search. But he wrote in an e-mail to USC colleagues that he had turned down the UMass position when it was offered to him.
The State – May 2, 2008 04:56 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: South Carolina: Columbia
USC’s presidential search committee could conclude its work and recommend three finalists to the Board of Trustees as early as the end of June, chairman Miles Loadholt said Thursday.Loadholt, who will take over as board chairman this summer, said the pool of candidates includes sitting presidents at other universities.The board has set July 31 as a tentative deadline to hire a new president. President Andrew Sorensen is scheduled to retire from the presidency and assume a teaching position in the School of Medicine on that date, but he has said he would stay on if the committee takes longer to hire his successor.Loadholt’s comments followed news that Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences, had withdrawn his candidacy in the search for a new chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Pastides taught at that institution for 18 years.On Wednesday, when UMass President Jack Wilson nominated the provost from the University of Tennessee for the UMass post, Pastides would not comment on how he had fared in that search. But he wrote in an e-mail to USC colleagues that he had turned down the UMass position when it was offered to him.
The State – May 2, 2008 04:56 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: South Carolina: Columbia
UT provost to go to UMass as chancellor
The University of Massachusetts has tapped Robert Holub, currently the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee, as the flagship campus' new chancellor.
The Tennessean – May 1, 2008 07:56 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Tennessee: Nashville
The University of Massachusetts has tapped Robert Holub, currently the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee, as the flagship campus' new chancellor.
The Tennessean – May 1, 2008 07:56 AM [GMT] ¦ comment?
found in Local: Tennessee: Nashville