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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR MOUNT IDA — Months after the University of Massachusetts acquired small liberal arts college Mount Ida last spring, students are going after former college officials in a class action lawsuit. They allege the school violated the privacy of students, "committed fraud" and "engaged in negligent misrepresentation."
And although the case — and the entire situation — is unusual, it likely won't be the last time a small New England college is forced to close its doors or sell. Small private schools are facing increasing financial pressure, according to federal data, and future closures and mergers are likely. For that reason, all eyes will be on Mount Ida when the lawsuit gets underway.
The lawsuit announced Monday is brought by two Mount Ida students and a student who had planned to attend the college before it abruptly closed. They say the college misrepresented its financial situation and took on new students, promising hefty scholarships, when officials knew it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Attorney General Maura Healey is also conducting an investigation into the closure and whether the school acted in the best interests of its students.
The case also raises questions about how schools that are merged or sold should handle students' private academic and financial data, which is often their parents' financial data. Students say Mount Ida violated the Massachusetts Right of Privacy Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act by providing student data to UMass Dartmouth. UMass declined to comment on Monday night.
The next step is for a judge to certify the lawsuit, and at that point more students could join the class action. Mount Ida had 1,500 students when it closed last spring. It's not yet clear how much money the students are looking for. Bob Hildreth, philanthropist and founder of college funding program Inversant, is funding the suit.
Since the school closed in May , most former Mount Ida students have scattered. Some face much larger tuition bills at their new schools, according to a Boston Globe report, while about 150 students remain in some specialty programs on the Newton campus now operated by UMass Amherst. Former staff say they're also hanging in the balance and looking for new jobs.
THE MASSACHUSETTS-MISSISSIPPI CONNECTION — Voters in Mississippi will decide the final member of the Senate in a runoff election today, and some familiar Massachusetts faces have jumped into the race at the last minute. Among them: Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley, who headed south over the weekend to lend some star power to Democratic candidate Mike Espy.
"This election is a fight for the soul of our nation, the preservation of our democracy," Pressley said in a video posted by Espy's campaign. Espy is running against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to the Senate in March after former Sen. Thad Cochran resigned.
Neither Espy nor Hyde-Smith got over 50 percent of the vote on Nov. 6, so the Senate race went to a runoff. Over the last three weeks, information about Hyde-Smith's past, including attending a segregationist school, and a remark she made about attending a public hanging, have galvanized Democrats campaigning against her. Republicans are also kicking it into overdrive — President Donald Trump was in Mississippi rallying for Hyde-Smith on Monday.
A new Boston-based PAC is part of the effort to put Espy over the top today and curb Hyde-Smith. Left of Center, a PAC founded by Mara Dolan, former communications director for former Senate President Stanley Rosenberg; and state Democratic National Committee member Massachusetts Democratic Party vice chairwoman Deb Kozikowski has been supporting Democratic canvassers in Mississippi.
"It's just completely appalling," Dolan said of Hyde-Smith's ties to the confederacy. "It would be shameful to have someone like that in the U.S. Senate."
Left of Center funded lodging and meals for volunteers who knocked 10,000 doors in southern Mississippi. The PAC has raised around $9,000 since launching in October, and the average contribution is under $100, Dolan says. After tonight's votes are counted, Dolan said the next step for Left of Center is to identify and support 2020 congressional candidates across the country.
And unlike the party's rising stars, who are pulling the party further left and running on change, Dolan said there's an argument to be made that nationally, Democrats should run closer to the center next cycle. Dolan pointed to an October poll of 433 Massachusetts voters, which found 50 percent of registered voters say they think Democrats should "hold the center" and 27 percent said candidates should "challenge from the left."
"This is the winning formula. There is a huge center out there that isn't noisy but they long for stability," Dolan said. The Massachusetts Polling Group survey was done Oct. 5 to Oct. 8.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY - Gov. Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Patriots player Deatrich Wise Jr. and "The Voice" winner Brynn Cartelli attend the Faneuil Hall Marketplace Tree Lighting. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito attends the opening of the UMass Lowell Research Institute. Rep. Richard Neal addresses the New England Council at a roundtable breakfast.
Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins, Walsh and Suffolk County District Attorney-elect Rachael Rollins attend a press conference about a new unit for emerging adults. Sen. Ed Markey is a guest on "Radio Boston." Former Secretary of State and Sen. John Kerry speaks at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. Walsh and the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement host the "We are Boston" gala. Former White House press secretary Sean Spicerspeaks at UMass Amherst.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "BAKER URGES LAW ENFORCEMENT TO ADOPT HATE CRIMES RECOMMENDATIONS," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "As a group he re-established last year amid reports of a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across New England continues its work, Gov. Charlie Baker last week sent four recommendations from the group to police chiefs and encouraged law enforcement to adopt them immediately. Based on a recommendation of his Hate Crimes Task Force, Baker suggested that all law enforcement agencies designate at least one officer to serve as the department's point person on all hate crimes and that all agencies should require that officer to report any criminal act that appears to be motivated by bias to a new website the Executive Office of Public Safety is developing."
- "Agency weighs limit on union giving," by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times: "People and businesses are bound by strict limits on how much they may give to political campaigns, but a loophole allows unions to donate up to $15,000 to a candidate every time that person runs for office. Republican lawmakers and fiscal watchdogs have sought for years to substantially reduce how much unions can give to candidates and political committees, but the rule has survived dozens of complaints, legal challenges and attempts by lawmakers to get rid of it. Now the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance is taking a crack."
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| DATELINE MERRIMACK VALLEY |
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WHERE IS GOVERNOR CHARLIE BAKER?
- "'Columbia Gas should cease to exist, no second chances;' Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera strikes back at gas company during hearing," by Kristin LaFratta, MassLive.com: "Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera was one of several political leaders to lambast Columbia Gas and parent company NiSource for their response to the gas fires and explosions that rocked the Merrimack Valley two months ago. ... Addressing Sens. Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Maggie Hassan and Reps. Niki Tsgonas and Seth Moulton, the Lawrence mayor asked that the government do something to ensure Columbia Gas make good on its financial obligations and then cease operations."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Gross stands his ground in flap with ACLU, winning praise from Walsh," by Maria Cramer, Boston Globe: "Boston Police Commissioner William G. Gross was sworn in four months ago to great fanfare, promising to improve relations between the community and the department. But that pledge is being tested after he denounced the American Civil Liberties Union over the weekend on his personal Facebook page as 'paper warriors' more concerned with filing lawsuits than helping police combat crime."
- "Boston-area scientists criticize Chinese researcher who changed embryonic DNA," by Jonathan Saltzman and Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: "A Chinese scientist's claim that he used a powerful new gene-editing technique to change the embryonic DNA of twins drew fire Monday from ethicists and doctors in Massachusetts and from a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who helped invent the tool. The scientist's work was carried out in secrecy, and the results were not published in a peer-reviewed journal, prompting some to question the claim. But if it's true, several ethicists and physicians said, the experiment could threaten the babies' health and represent an alarming step toward a new world of so-called designer babies ."
- "Former Mount Ida students sue, accusing college leaders of fraud," by Laura Krantz, Boston Globe: "Former students of Mount Ida College sued their former school Monday, accusing its leaders of fraud, misleading students, and violating student privacy. The complaint, which the plaintiffs hope to have certified as a class-action suit, names the college, its trustees, as well as its former CFO and two other administrators as defendants. It was filed Monday morning in federal court in Boston. Attorneys for the college disputed the claims."
- "Pushed out of Roxbury," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "SOME PEOPLE MAY have been taken aback by the overflow crowd of 350 people who showed up earlier this month for a Boston City Council hearing in Roxbury to hear concerns about displacement. Kim Janey was not one of them. 'I was not surprised at all,' said Janey, the district city councilor who represents Roxbury along with parts of Dorchester, the South End, and the Fenway."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "New pot shop's neighbors say traffic jams are awful," by Dan Adams, Boston Globe: "At an emergency meeting at Town Hall Monday night, dozens of angry residents excoriated elected officials and executives from the local marijuana store — Cultivate, one of just two currently operating on the East Coast — for failing to adequately control the hordes of cannabis consumers and curiosity-seekers who have descended on this small town outside Worcester. Among their complaints: long lines of traffic, closed streets and detours, pedestrians trekking along a highway with no sidewalk, litter, public urination and pot consumption, overly aggressive shuttle bus drivers ferrying customers to and from a nearby parking lot, and poor communication from Cultivate."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "'I Always Respect Subpoenas': Comey Says His Legal Team Is Looking At His Options," WGBH News: " Former FBI Director James Comey said he won't ignore the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena compelling him to testify behind closed doors about his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, but his legal team is looking at his options. ... In a wide-ranging interview at the WGBH Studio at the Boston Public Library, Comey talked about the need for transparency in government oversight, the personnel shakeup at the Department of Justice, Whitey Bulger's murder in a federal prison and even his own use of private emails during his time at the FBI."
- "UMASS AMHERST POLL SHOWS PARTY DIVIDE IN TRUST OF MEDIA," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "A majority of Massachusetts voters think President Donald Trump's rhetoric played a role in recent incidents of violence, including the attempted mail bombings of prominent Democrats and the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, but 49 percent think the media bears responsibility as well. A new poll of registered voters released by UMass Amherst and conducted by YouGov over the span of a week earlier this month found that 61 percent of voters agreed that Trump's rhetoric played a role in the violence, while 30 percent disagreed. Only 24 percent of respondents disagreed that the "mass media" played a role."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Owen Labrie asks N.H. court to amend his sentence," by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: "A lawyer for Owen Labrie, the former St. Paul's School student found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl on campus in 2014, is asking a New Hampshire court to suspend the remainder of his jail sentence. In court documents filed in Merrimack County Superior Court, Jaye L. Rancourt wrote that 'incarceration of Mr. Labrie at this point serves no purpose.'"
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| MIDTERM POSTMORTEM |
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- "How Did Deval Patrick Do In The Midterms?" by Antonio Caban, WGBH News: " He wasn't on the ballot — he hasn't been since 2010 — but former Governor Deval Patrick racked up some political wins in this year's midterm elections. A handful of candidates Patrick endorsed this cycle are now on their way to the 116th Congress. Also headed to Washington are more than a dozen representatives backed by the nascent Reason to Believe PAC, an organization that supports progressive candidates and causes. The PAC's founders worked closely with Patrick in the corner office."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Anti-Pelosi forces stumble over strategy," by Heather Caygle and Rachael Bade, POLITICO: " The push to block Nancy Pelosi from the speakership is sputtering amid disagreements among her Democratic critics over their strategy and endgame, just days ahead of a critical caucus vote. Some sources close to the group have privately accused one of its leaders, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, of freelancing — publicly pushing a potential compromise with Pelosi that not all members support or were even aware was on the table."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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WHERE IS GOVERNOR CHARLIE BAKER?
- "Elizabeth Warren asks why locked out National Grid workers not used as 'mutual aid,'" by Shannon Young, Springfield Republican: "U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, pressed Columbia Gas Monday to clarify whether it pushed National Grid to deploy locked out workers to help with recovery efforts following Sept. 13 gas explosions in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. The Massachusetts Democrat, during a U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing in Lawrence, argued that Columbia Gas could've put union workers who have been idle for months 'to work if they had been back to work at National Grid.'"
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| KENNEDY COMPOUND |
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- "KENNEDY LAYS OUT BLUE-COLLAR-FIRST AMERICAN AGENDA AT N.E. COUNCIL," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "Congressman Joseph Kennedy III on Monday laid out the roadmap for his Democratic Party to 'strip [the U.S. economic system] to the studs and build something better' as the left attempts to offer working-class voters an alternative to the economic worldview of President Donald Trump. Speaking to the New England Council, Kennedy said that, while campaigning for colleagues around the country, he heard from people everywhere about 'the cost of everything from day care to a doctor' and said pocketbook economics are not getting enough attention in Washington."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Ayanna Pressley says she will support Nancy Pelosi for House speaker," by Travis Andersen, Boston Globe: "Ending weeks of speculation, US Representative-elect Ayanna Pressley on Monday announced that she's backing longtime California Democrat Nancy Pelosi in her bid to reclaim the title of House speaker in January. ... Pressley's announcement came days after the Globe reported that just over half of the House Democrats from New England, whose party captured every House seat in the region in the midterm elections, were publicly supporting Pelosi to serve as the next speaker."
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| THE LOWELL CONNECTOR |
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- "Rec marijuana could arrive in Lowell in Jan." by Aaron Curtis, The Lowell Sun: "The first recreational marijuana dispensary within the city could be opening its doors to the public as soon as January. The prediction came from representatives of Patriot Care Corp. -- the company poised to be the first to sell recreational marijuana in Lowell -- during the Mayor's Opioid Epidemic Task Force meeting on Monday night."
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| BEHIND THE TOFU CURTAIN |
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- "Hadley man receives 3 to 4 years for leading role in Amherst home invasion," by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "A victim of a violent home invasion in Amherst, speaking publicly for the first time in Hampshire Superior Court Monday, said he no longer sleeps well at night, is incapable of functioning in social settings and continues to suffer from pain in his right arm from a deep wound in which muscles, nerves and tendons were cut."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED," "MARTY'S ICE BOX," — Globe: "Gross-ACLU flap splits city leaders," "Neighbors say pot shop brings misery to town," "With fury and tears, victims face utility." |
| NO PLACE LIKE THE CITY OF HOMES |
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- "'Let's tell this union to go away:' MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis urges security guards to reject union vote," by Dan Glaun, Springfield Republican: "MGM Springfield President and CEO Michael Mathis is urging the casino's security guards to reject unionization ahead of Tuesday's union vote, describing labor organizers as 'strangers' coming between workers and management."
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| ALL ABOARD |
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- "Old Orange Line cars gear up for their final rides," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "The end is in sight for the old war horses of the Orange Line, but first the MBTA needs them to make a few more runs. With the first of more than 150 new Orange Line cars expected to enter service soon, retirement is close for the 38-year-old trains that lumber between Malden and Jamaica Plain. Some, though, will have to ease into their golden years as the transition to the new fleet will take more than three years. And like anything of a certain age, they need a bit of help getting through the workday."
- "T notes: Ridership, even at peak times on Red Line, continues to decline," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "MBTA RIDERSHIP is continuing to decline, even on the Red Line at peak travel times. T officials for a couple years have been trying to understand why ridership is trending down at a time when the Greater Boston economy is booming. One promising sign during the downturn has been data indicating ridership was up on the subway lines at peak travel times, reinforcing the view that public transit does best in attracting passengers when it has a dedicated right of way during periods when congestion is high or alternative modes of travel are more expensive."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to the Boston Business Journal's Catherine Carlock.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and no! The Celtics beat the Pelicans 124-107. The Maple Leafs beat the Bruins 4-2.
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