(Photo courtesy of Shine Learning) “Working retail on top of a college schedule can be incredibly draining.” Troy Lafond Connector Editor The reality of attending college in the 2020s is that many students need to work while in school to get by. The cost of living is high, and the price of schooling is higher.…
Op-ed: Massachusetts sees a spike in COVID-19 cases and it will not stop till we do more
(CDC/Unsplash) Matthew Micale Connector Staff As of Oct. 28, Massachusetts has had a total of 153,000 coronavirus cases. Of these cases, close to 10,000 have resulted in deaths. This past week, there was a recent spike of coronavirus cases in Massachusetts with over 1,000 new cases per day. This is amid social distancing guidelines and…
Op-ed: An analysis of the 2020 Presidential Candidates’ Policies Regarding Criminal Justice
(Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash) Incarcerations of Blacks and Hispanics in this country are 38% and 21% of the prison population even though there are 13% and 17% of the population of the United States. Emmanuel Idehen-Ovabor Connector Staff With approximately 22 days left until the election, both 2020 presidential candidates are…
Op-Ed: Trump’s national emergency doomed to fail
Trump declared a national emergency on Feb. 15. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) Troy Lafond Connector Editor On Friday, February 15, President Trump decided to declare a national emergency along the southern border of the U.S. in an attempt to finally get his wall built. Throughout his shutdown of the government, he had threatened to do so…
Op-Ed: MassPIRG is a partisan scam, and we should vote to defund them
Andrew J. Sciascia Connector Editor If you have spent even a semester here at UMass Lowell, chances are you have also heard of – or from – the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG). MassPIRG representatives and members are well known around campus for invading classrooms to shamelessly preach their policy platforms and ask for…
A welcome address from an old friend
Hannah Manning Connector Editor Being Editor-in-Chief of the paper is absolutely surreal for me. I’m still having trouble really grasping it. I’ve been here since the first week of my freshman year back in Fall 2015 (ancient history, I know). I was a nervous kid — I was running a few minutes late for the…
Op-Ed: Is Living on Campus Worth it?
Brigid Archibald Connector Staff Housing contracts opened last month and are due on March 31st. As always, some residents are debating whether they’d like to return to on-campus living next year, between the cost and other pitfalls of dorming some think an off-campus apartment is a better option. Personally, the convenience of dorming alone is…
Op-Ed: The real Boston anthem
Neil Diamond performs “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park in 2013. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images) Taylor Carito Connector Editor It’s that song that you turn off when you’re in your car by yourself, but you know that when that first note plays you’ll be swaying side-by-side with the stranger next to you at the bar, baseball game…