Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Head of CRC victim of vandalism

Junior Environmental Biology major Angela Panaccione returned to her room in Van Meter Residence Hall on Tuesday night, only to find that the she had been the victim of an act of vandalism.

Someone had torn her dry-erase board off of the door to her room, and thrown it on the floor of the hallway. The perpetrators had covered the board with anti-drug propaganda, including a sticker depicting a hand holding a joint of marijuana. The sticker read, “Don’t let your life go up in smoke,” and included the telephone number of a drug abuse support line.

Panaccione perceives that the stickers refer to her status as President of the UMass Cannabis Reform Coalition [CRC], a Registered Student Organization which supports the legalization of marijuana.

In addition to the anti-drug slogans, the word “squelch” was written, along with the phrase, “Don’t forget to use your dental dams.”

The comment regarding dental dams is apparently a reference to homosexuality, although Panaccione is unsure of what is meant by the use of the word “squelch”. The word, according to Miriam-Webster Dictionary, can have three possible meanings – “to fall or stamp on so as to crush,” “to completely suppress,” and, “to emit a sucking sound.”

Panaccione is heterosexual, but feels threatened by the anti-gay language nonetheless.

“I feel as if [I’ve been discriminated against] in three different ways – gender, sexual orientation, and [my job with] the CRC,” said Panaccione.

“It’s not as if I shoved drugs in peoples’ faces. I just happen to support legalization,” she added. “I come here to go to school, and to get more people involved. School hasn’t even started yet, and I’m being attacked.”

Panaccione also stated that, in several years of work with the Cannabis Reform Coalition, this was the first time that she had been threatened or discriminated against.

Paul Schmidt, the Resident Assistant [RA] for Panaccione’s floor, held a meeting for residents of the Van Meter basement, at which the incident was discussed. Reporters were asked not to attend the meeting. Panaccione states that no one at the meeting claimed to have seen anything unusual.

Schmidt declined to comment on the matter, stating that his superiors in the Housing Office have asked him not to speak to the press regarding the incident.

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