Dear Mass Media,

This fee increase (“Finance Panel Approves 3% Raise in Student Fees”, 3/10/08) affects every student on campus and is a yearly reminder of how much less affordable our education has become. It is disappointing, to say the least, that the most our own campus paper can do is to print a cheerleading UMass press release, sans any critique, fact-checking, or student reaction.

Even deadlines are no excuse for this.

-Alex Kulenovic

Student Trustee

Dear MassMedia,

The March 10th issue of The Mass Media had a cover page to be ashamed of. I’ll remind you, it was a cartoon picture of a beer guzzling guy (fine with me), and a mini devil giving the finger (fine with me as well). What bothered me was the mini-devil pulling down the bikini top of the girl next to him while she gave a terrified and humiliated facial expression. I may have a different outlook on this if the girl was in fact doing it on her own, the idea of spring break comes with that generalized social norm. Spring break is also known for the “trend” of date rape that effects many young women every year. I think whoever put together the front page that week should have put more consideration towards the cartoons they choose. Blatantly degrading sexual harassment should never be used a “funny” front page.

-Lisa Coppola

CPCS Student

Dear Mass Media,

As a student at UMass Boston, I would like to express my personal disappointment after opening the March 10, 2008 issue of Mass Media to see the article “Undergraduate Student Senate Updates Bylaws and Accepts New Leadership” as such a statement is completely inaccurate. Although myself, as a student senator have been actively participating in the revision of the bylaws, they have not been officially “updated” and cannot be considered to be until the General Assembly has voted to accept them along with the approval of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. While I deeply respect Mass Media writers and staff for their consistent efforts to bring campus news to the community, I believe it is important to bring attention to this most obvious mistake.

Secondly, I hope to present the names of UMass Boston’s “new leadership” that while noted in the article’s title, were namelessly limited to a small paragraph. Community members should be happy to learn that Jenna Alderton, Moyosore Alade, Charles Bovaird, Timothy Connor, Milcah Nakachwa, Fahid Naseer and Brenda Tracchia have joined the Undergraduate Student Senate for the remainder of the year.

Finally, I end with a plea to the UMass Boston community: in order to learn more about campus issues please get involved and please reach out to your senators if they have not had the chance to personally reach out to you.

Thank you kindly for your time and efforts,

-Michelle Tracchia