Levasseur's talk on roots of terrorism might find new venue

AMHERST - Proponents of a planned talk by a former member of a radical group that was canceled by University of Massachusetts officials this week decry the cancellation as an affront to free speech. Meanwhile, there is a move afoot to find another venue for the talk by Raymond Luc Levasseur, a convicted domestic terrorist.

UMass police seek sex assault suspect

AMHERST - University of Massachusetts police are seeking a suspect involved in a reported sexual assault Tuesday night in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.

The assault allegedly took place in the women's bathroom on the library's 19th floor between the hours of 10 and 11 p.m.

Two alums step up with $125 million for Amherst College

AMHERST - In an apparently unprecedented move, anonymous donors have pledged to donate $125 million to Amherst College over the next five years, college officials announced Tuesday.

Alumna tapped as MHC president

SOUTH HADLEY - When Lynn Pasquerella completed an alumnae survey identifying which qualities she'd like to see in the next president of Mount Holyoke College, she never dreamed she could be describing herself.

On Monday, college officials named Pasquerella, a medical ethicist and provost at the University of Hartford, as Mount Holyoke's 18th president.

She succeeds president Joanne V. Creighton, who has served as the college's president since 1996. She announced her retirement in the spring.

New UMass rec center open

AMHERST - After a delay, the University of Massachusetts Recreation Center opened Friday for student use.

The $52 million center's opening was pushed back about a month while a final fire prevention systems inspection was conducted by the Amherst Fire Department and then addressed by the university.

Mount Holyoke College selects next president

SOUTH HADLEY - Mount Holyoke College's 18th President will be Lynn Pasquerella, a medical ethicist and provost at the University of Hartford. Pasquerella was chosen after a seven-month search to find a successor for current President Joanne V. Creighton.

Issue Tracker: Capital projects at UMass keep on trucking

THE ISSUE: The University of Massachusetts at Amherst is a 146-year-old campus whose large-scale capital rejuvenation project has run head-first into the recession. Almost 70 percent of the campus was constructed before the 1970s. According to university officials about $1.8 billion is needed to address all of the Amherst campus building needs. How much can get done amid a downturn?