■ Science becomes art at polymer research center, page 4 Inside ■ Engineering students, professor restore historic bridges, page 7 The Campus Chronicle Vol. XVIII, No. 30 April 25, 2003 for the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts News Briefs House panel Open meetings set with dean candidate proposes The search committee for a new dean of the School of $78.9m cut Public Health and Health Sci- ences has scheduled several Daniel J. Fitzgibbons C open meetings next week HRONICLE STAFF with one of the candidates The University system could for the post, Steven Zeisel. lose $78.9 million in state funding Zeisel, who is associate next year under the $22.5 billion dean for research in the budget proposal unveiled Wed- school of public health at the nesday by House Ways and University of North Carolina, Means Committee Chairman John Chapel Hill, will participate in H. Rogers (D-Norwood). The House budget package an open meeting with faculty Eric M. Beekman Neil Immerman Max Page and staff on Thursday, May calls for cutting the five-campus 1, 3-4 p.m. in 165-169 Lin- system’s maintenance appropria- coln Campus Center. A ses- tion from $438,276,144 to sion for students will follow 3 awarded Guggenheim Fellowships $356,470,020 or 18 percent. Last year, the University re- at 4 p.m. in the same room. Barbara Pitoniak this outstanding achievement,” contributions to the study of ceived a maintenance appropria- On Friday, May 2, Zeisel NEWS OFFICE STAFF said Charlena Seymour, interim Dutch language and literature and tion of $445.6 million, but will make an academic pre- Three faculty members have senior vice chancellor for Aca- his efforts to promote an appre- subequent cuts ordered by the sentation, “Choline and brain been awarded fellowships from demic Affairs and provost. “We ciation and understanding of the governor reduced funding to development,” at 10:15 a.m. the prestigious John Simon Gug- are delighted UMass Amherst culture of the Netherlands in the $438.3 million. When applied in 174-176 Campus Center. genheim Memorial Foundation. faculty represent one of the two English-speaking world. against the original funding for They are Eric M. Beekman, pro- largest groups of individuals in In 1999 Yale University Press Fiscal 2003, the House cut is actu- Turf fertilization and fessor of Germanic Languages Massachusetts to receive fellow- released a collection of works by ally 20 percent. weed control program and Literatures; Neil Immerman, ships. This is a fine tribute to the G.E. Rumphius, “The Ambonese The Ways and Means Commit- As part of its turf manage- professor of Computer Science; very high quality of their schol- Curiosity Cabinet,” which is trans- tee also reduced funding for the ment program, the Physical and Max Page, assistant profes- arly work.” lated, edited, and annotated by nine-campus state college system Plant Landscape Services sor of architecture and history in Beekman is currently conduct- Beekman, who joined the Univer- by $35.6 million or 18 percent and Department will be applying the Art Department. ing research at the National sity in 1968. the 15 community colleges by fertilizer with Dimension Guggenheim Fellows are ap- Tropical Botanical Garden in Page is the author of “The Cre- nearly $40 million, also by 18 per- crabgrass preventor to the pointed on the basis of distin- Florida where he is translating a ative Destruction of Manhattan, cent. Both percentages are based center of campus during the guished achievement in the past seven-volume set of 17th century 1900-1940” (University of Chi- on the adjusted appropriations. latter part of April. and exceptional promise for future Dutch books on tropical plants in cago Press, 1999), which won the The public higher education The affected area is accomplishment, according to the the South Pacific and their uses Spiro Kostof Award of the Soci- cuts, according to the committee bounded by Massachusetts foundation. The 2003 fellowship written by G.E. Rumphius. He has ety of Architectural Historians, summary, are to be offset partially and Commonwealth av- winners include 184 artists, schol- published 24 books since the for the best book on architecture by a new $30 million higher edu- enues, Governors Drive, ars and scientists, chosen from 1960s, the majority of which are and urbanism. He also writes for a cation efficiency incentive pro- Eastman Lane, Thatcher more than 3,200 applicants in the related to the study of Dutch lit- variety of publications about New gram aimed at promoting cost Way and Butterfield Terrace. U.S. and Canada. Fifteen individu- erature. His 12-volume series of York City, urban development, savings. Re-entry into the area is als from Massachusetts were se- translations of pivotal Dutch historic preservation, and the The Ways and Means Commit- safe as soon as the dust lected for fellowships. The three works was published by the Uni- popular uses of history. He is cur- tee budget also level funds the settles, according to Pam UMass Amherst faculty represent versity of Massachusetts Press in rently editing two books — a matching endowment program at Monn, manager of Land- one of two institutions in the state the 1980s. documentary history of American $2 million and Commonwealth scape and Construction Ser- garnering the highest number of In 1997, Beekman was knighted architecture and a collection of College at $1.715 million. vices, but pesticide warning fellowships. Four individuals at by the Kingdom of the Nether- scholarly essays on the history of Funding for the Star Store Re- signs will remain posted for Harvard University received fel- lands, receiving the “Ridder in de the historic preservation move- serve, a Dartmouth campus 24 hours. The timing of the lowships. Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw” ment in the United States — and project in New Bedford, was elimi- application will be based on “I congratulate professors (Knight of the Order of the Neth- curating an exhibition about the weather conditions. nated by the House panel, which Beekman, Page, and Immerman on erlands Lion) for his outstanding SEE FELLOWS, PAGE 3 For further information or cut funding for that campus’s to obtain a materials safety Advanced Technology Center in data sheet, contact Valerie Fire destroys Art Department’s Foundry Fall River by half or $550,442. Knightly at 5-4386. The Ways and Means Commit- Sarah R. Buchholz tee report also recommends no Meetings scheduled CHRONICLE STAFF funding for library materials and with VC candidates A Tuesday evening two-alarm calls for a 10 percent cut in schol- arship funding. Open meetings with two fire in the Foundry, also known as Also included in the budget candidates for vice chancel- Marshall Annex, left the building recommendation is a proposal to lor for Student Affairs and destroyed, and an Art class tem- change the share of health insur- Campus Life will be held next porarily homeless. No one was in- ance costs paid by state employ- week. The hour-long ses- side at the time of the fire. ees from the current 15 percent to sions are as follows: University Police, the state fire a multi-tiered system pegged to Naomi Johnson, vice marshal and building inspector, salary levels. president for student affairs the Amherst Fire Department and Calling the state’s economic at Edinboro University of Environmental Health and Safety condition “quite harsh and se- Pennsylvania, Monday, April are investigating the incident. vere,” House Ways and Means 28. The fire was reported at 7:59 Committee Chairman John H. Michael Gargano, associ- p.m. to the Amherst Fire Depart- Rogers (D-Norwood) said higher ate vice president, student ment via a cell phone call from a insurance premiums are a likeli- and academic support ser- passing student, who noticed hood as lawmakers try to address vices at George Washington flames through the window. Al- a huge budget shortfall. University, Thursday, May 1. though the building contained a Stan Sherer photo Under the Rogers plan, em- Both meetings are at 3:45 fire alarm, it had no sprinkler sys- Investigators comb the remains of the Foundry searching for ployees who earn less than p.m. in 168C Lincoln Campus tem. By the time the department clues to the cause of the Tuesday night blaze that destroyed the Center. SEE BLAZE, PAGE 3 140-year-old building. SEE BUDGET, PAGE 3 2 April 25, 2003 The Campus Chronicle Campus events commemorate Holocaust “Never Forget: Memorializing the Holo- caust,” a week of inter-group, creative pro- gramming sponsored by Hillel House, will be presented from April 27 to May 2. All events are free and open to the public. The film “Paragraph 175,” directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, which documents the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany, will be shown Sunday, April 27 at 7 p.m. in 803 Lincoln Campus Center. “Dear Esther,” a play based on the true story of Esther Terner Raab, a Holocaust survivor who escaped from Sobibor, a Nazi death camp in eastern Poland where work- ers rebelled against their Nazi captors. Cre- ated by Richard Rashke, the play draws upon extensive interviews with Raab and incorporates real letters written by students who heard her speak. The performance is scheduled for Monday, April 28 at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium. A display of flags in seven different col- ors, each symbolizing a different group an- nihilated during the Holocaust, will be ex- Stan Sherer photo hibited on the Campus Pond lawn from Public writing April 28 through May 2. Each flag desig- A student on a stairwell in Bartlett Hall pauses to look at the installation created by students in English 297E, nates 5,000 people killed, with 2,061 flags “Experimenting with Text in Writing and Art.” According to teaching assistant Lauren Rosenberg, “The students representing the 12 million Jews, Soviet created these chalk-on-paper drawings as an ongoing installation.