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Students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will be required to receive a COVID-19 booster shot ahead of the spring semester, or obtain a medical or religious exemption, the school said Wednesday. The rule is similar to the university’s requirement that nearly all students be vaccinated against COVID to be enrolled for the fall semester. Only a few hundred students received exemptions for medical or religious reasons. ... UMass will require students to be tested between 10 and 14 days before the beginning of the spring semester, administrators said. The university will also continue a policy requiring face coverings indoors...

Andover parents Kristin and Scott are speaking out on behalf of their daughter. She along with two of her friends are freshmen at UMass Amherst. A picture posted on social media of the three friends not wearing masks outside was handed over to the university and that has landed them in serious trouble. “There was a photo sent to the administration of these girls outside off campus on a Saturday. This is why they lost a whole semester of their schooling,” Kristin said.

he union representing resident assistants at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst says the plan to reopen residence halls this fall while in the middle of the pandemic is “suicidal,” and says its members will have no part of it without increased precautions for their safety. Members of the Resident Assistants and Peer Mentors Union, part of United Auto Workers, Local 2322, on Monday were nearly unanimous in opposing plans to reopen the residences calls with the start of the fall semester. According to a statement, 95% of members voted to authorize the union’s bargaining team to formally refuse to...

Catherine West Lowry is a senior lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For the past 13 years, she has taught introductory accounting—a "dry and difficult subject matter," in her words. To make the class more exciting, Lowry has for years let students make funny videos for extra credit. Some of these have been shown in class. A parody video from 2009 was particularly popular and has resurfaced in subsequent years. Last semester, when Lowry showed this specific video, many students laughed at it. But at least a few were offended and complained to the administration, which subsequently relieved Lowry...

<p>Administrators at the University of Massachusetts Amherst asked a student to yank her “F–K NAZIS” sign — because the message wasn’t “inclusive,” according to a new report.</p> <p>Nicole Parsons hung the pointed memo, which read in full “F–K NAZIS YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE,” in the window of her dorm in response to swastikas that were scrawled all over a “Happy Hannukah” sign in early December.</p>

BOSTON (CBS) – The University of Massachusetts has suspended head football coach Mark Whipple for referencing rape in his postgame comments after his team’s latest loss. The Minutemen lost to Ohio on Saturday, 58-42, on the road. Whipple was critical of officials after the game in an interview on the UMass radio broadcast. When discussing what he believed to be a missed pass interference call, Whipple said the officials “raped us.”

But we have to ask, do the facts really justify this level of outrage? After all, United approached this overbooked flight in the same way that airlines across the country do every day. Dao was given many chances to leave the flight peacefully, and blatantly refused to do so. In airports post-9/11, this type of behavior is not tolerated as there is a greater emphasis on the expectation to comply with the instructions of airline personnel for safety reasons. After Dao dug his feet in, all United did was call the airport police. Anything that occurred after that point was...

People of color, particularly Black Americans, shouldn’t be surprised in the least by Donald Trump’s presidential victory. Although part of me feels like we shouldn’t be acting like we haven’t already survived, despite vicious attempts to destroy us, I can understand the shock. It’s the same thing as saying no matter how much one can prepare for death, you’re never really ready. We’ve been preparing for different forms of death for hundreds of years. And yet, here we are in fear, though our fears have morphed into realities time and time again through Jim Crow, lynchings, police brutality (which has...

To the Editor: In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, we’ve heard many calls from media and political figures to give Trump another chance. They suggested he might moderate his positions, that it would not be so bad and that we should unite and work together as a nation. What did Trump do with this fresh chance in the very first week? He appointed Steve Bannon to the pivotal role of Chief Strategist, a decision that was instantly applauded by the American Nazi Party and the KKK. Bannon is a leader in the effort to mainstream white nationalism in American...

As Donald Trump neared an improbable victory in the Electoral College on Tuesday night, the mood in the Student Union was something less than joyous. At the site of a viewing party for the election results, most people had cleared the Cape Cod Lounge venue. Outside in the building’s hub, Mokhtar Malas sat nervously eyeing the return results in swing states Wisconsin and New Hampshire. “I was really surprised by the results. Especially because the polls were showing Clinton would win the Presidency,” Malas, a senior Biology major, said. “I feel betrayed.” “I’m not pro-Hillary, but I think she’d do...

If you only watch one video that makes you urinate yourself with guilty laughter today... make it this one.

videoSocial Justice Warrior entertainment cruel commentary by neanderthal misogynists

<p>Students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst set a new high for hysteria Monday night at an event featuring Christina Hoff Sommers, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Steven Crowder.</p> <p>The event was intended to be a forum and discussion about the use of political correctness on campus, but degenerated into a shouting match as protesters sought to drown out the speakers with cries of "hate speech" and, less imaginatively....</p>

Students and staff at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus have been ordered to shelter in place after reports of a gunman on campus. FOX25 has received several tweets from members of the campus community but has not heard back from campus officials about the situation.

AMHERST, Mass. — The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has banned Iranian nationals from admission to certain graduate programs in a move that school officials say aligns its policy with U.S. sanctions against Iran. The university will no longer admit students from Iran to some programs in engineering and natural sciences.

The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is set to open early next year. […] The institute is being built on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Boston next to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The centerpiece is a full-scale representation of the U.S. Senate Chamber. …

UMass guard Derrick Gordon hopes his decision to become the first openly gay player in Division I men’s basketball will inspire others. “There are a lot of kids out there in my situation, probably far worse situations,” he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “Maybe I can give a lot of kids that confidence that they need to get over that hump.”

Police in riot gear have arrested at least 35 people participating in the pre-St. Patrick’s Day “Blarney Blowout” at the University of Massachusetts’ flagship campus in Amherst. […] Amherst Police Capt. Jennifer Gundersen says officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd. …

he past few days, the Internet has been filled with commentary on whether the National Science Foundation should have paid for my study on duck genitalia, and 88.7 percent of respondents to a Fox news online poll agreed that studying duck genitalia is wasteful government spending. The commentary supporting and decrying the study continues to grow. As the lead investigator in this research, I would like to weigh in on the controversy and offer some insights into the process of research funding by the NSF. My research on bird genitalia was originally funded in 2005, during the Bush administration. Thus...

Fracking, the controversial method of extracting shale gas or other petroleum from deep below the earth's surface, might be possible in the Connecticut River Valley, geologists say. But the rock deposits likely to bear gas are thin here and difficult to access, making commercial exploitation of the resource unlikely in the near future. “It's not hard to hit,” said James L. Coleman Jr., a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “It's hard to do anything with once you get it.” Coleman was one of the speakers Thursday at a day-long conference on the future of shale gas, hydraulic fracturing...