CPCS Professor Criticizes ” ‘Affordable’ Housing”

College of Public & Community Service Professor Michael Stone published a column in the Roslindale West Roxbury Transcript last Thursday.

The column, co-written with Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo, criticized the manner in which the city defines affordable housing in Boston.

The column reads, “The city’s housing crisis has resulted in a substantial shortage of safe, decent, and reasonably priced rental housing and purchase options for the people of the city of Boston.” It concludes, “A significant piece of the solution is to provide true affordability in the city’s ‘affordable’ housing programs.”

Amherst Group Protest Access to “Morning After Pill”

A UMass Amherst-based organization staged a protest outside of a Hadley Wal-Mart last Thursday according to The Daily Collegian.

UMass Vox: Voices for Choice organized the protest in conjunction with a nation-wide effort pressuring Wal-Mart stores to carry emergency contraception.

The protestors told The Collegian that their hope is to urge the chain to fill prescriptions for “the morning after pill,” thus allowing for access for women living in rural areas without the availability of alternate stores.

Wal-Mart maintains their pharmacists right to decline the fill of prescriptions based on personal convictions, and allows that pharmacists are obligated to find another complaint pharmacy in which the customer may obtain her request.

Protestors on the UMass Amherst campus maintain that the decision to acquire the pill should not be one made by the company, but the individual seeking a prescription.

“It’s not up to them to make the choice for people,” one opponent told The Collegian. “I think it’s the patient’s call.”

Gala Old Time

UMass Boston’s Spring Gala to benefit the Chancellor’s Scholarship Program will take place on April 20. The event, scheduled from 5:30 until 9 p.m., in the Campus Center, boasts honors for distinguished alumni and international fare.

According to the university website the gala will include, “an array of live entertainment, with dine-around supper celebrating the music and cuisines of the diverse communities surrounding UMass Boston.”

Entertainment will be provided by The Temptations Review, as well as Alebreke,

Samurai Taiko Drummers, Street Magic Acapella, and The Boston Players.

Individual tickets are priced at $150. Benefits for sponsoring the event include recognition on WUMB radio, tickets to Symphony Hall, and a permanent plaque in the Campus Center.

More information is available at www.umb.edu, or by contacting The Castle Group at 617-227-0012 ext. 777 or email [email protected]