TASK DEFINITION: Given a document and an entity the task is to select the author's sentiment towards the entity. Sentiments can be Positive, Neutral and Negative. Select Positive if the article expresses a positive view towards the given entity or praises its quality or skills. Select Neutral if the document expresses no clear view towards the entity or has equal amounts of positive and negative statements or expressing some fact/quote by someone else. Select Negative if the article expresses a negative view towards like harsh remarks, criticizing entities action/decision etc. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Nikolas Cruz ? On November 29 of last year   Nikolas Cruz  called 911  himself  in Palm Beach County to report that someone "attacked me and said they were going to gut me."
In a 5 ½ minute call   Cruz  say  "I kind of got made and I started punching walls and stuff and then a kid came at me and threw me on the ground  and he started attacking me and kicked me out of the house."
In another call  a woman  whose name was redacted  describes an altercation between her adult son and Cruz. She also said she's worried that  Cruz  is going to get a gun  "because that's all he wants is his gun  and that's all he cares about is his gun."
The Miami Herald and other news organizations identify the caller as 42-year-old Roxanne Deschamps  who had taken in  Cruz  and his younger brother  Zachary  after their mother died earlier that month.
Meanwhile  the Broward Sheriff's office released  records dating back 10 years documenting contacts it had with Nikolas Cruz  the 19-year-old suspect .  The records released  are logs of 23 separate 911 calls  including 15 calls made by  his  now-deceased mother   Linda Cruz   reporting disputes and disturbances involving  Cruz  between November 2008 and June 2014. Several other calls were made by third parties beginning in February 2016 through November 2017.
"Third hand information from the neighbor's son that  Nikolas Cruz  planned to shoot up the school on Instagram (Picture of Juvenile with guns.) One month time delay. Unknown high school.  Cruz  lives in area."
The log says that the deputy made contact with the anonymous caller. Upon learning that  Cruz  possessed knives and a BB gun  that information was "forwarded to Stoneman Douglas School Resource Officer."
"Caller advised subject Nikolas Cruz is collecting guns and knives.  Cruz  wants to join the Army. Concerned  he  will kill  himself  one day and believes  he  could be a school shooter in the making. Caller advised  Cruz  was no longer living at the listed parkland address and is now living Lake Worth  FL. Believes the weapons are kept at a friend's house at an unknown location."

SOLUTION: Neutral

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Paula Marantz Cohen ? In a case of literary serendipity  right after I read Beck's piece  I stumbled onto an essay called "The Simplest Course I Ever Taught" in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Paula Marantz Cohen  dean of the Pennoni Honors College and professor of English at Drexel University.
 Cohen  describes  her  embrace of "slow teaching " an approach that designs a college course to "look closely â and by extension  slowly â at one major idea or text over the course of ten weeks."
Though the focus of  Cohen 's essay is a one-credit course  she  developed that "took the slow teaching approach to a new level" â  she  read aloud Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to her students  and they discussed the plot and characters together â  she  explains that the honors program  she  heads offers a whole set of slow-taught courses. One of them focused on Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species  an indication that science as well as the humanities is involved.
A deliberate change on professors' part from trying "to cram in as much material as possible over the course of a term " Cohen suggests  brings benefits to the students. "I am convinced that key concepts and texts will adhere better to memory and understanding if their presentation is slowed down "  she  says in  her  essay.
Given what I wrote here last year about celebrating intellectual engagement on college campuses  it's no surprise that I'm convinced by  Cohen 's points. I'm not a skeptic about the slow-teaching approach.
Did  Cohen  have any thoughts on whether slow teaching would be as effective in the science as in the humanities?  She  replied  in part:

SOLUTION: Positive

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity John Wall ? Wizards guard  John Wall  moves the ball defended by Lakers guard Lonzo Ball during the first quarter at Staples Center. (Photo: Kelvin Kuo  USA TODAY Sports)
Following his teamâs 102-99 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers  an outcome that followed waves of pre-game trash talk   Washington Wizards point guard John Wall  praised Lonzo Ball and suggested the rookieâs outspoken father wonât significantly deter his prowess this season â pointing out that heâs more conditioned to the LaVar Ball spectacle than the rest of the NBA.
Before the game   Wall  said LaVarâs antics could be a âgift and a curse " but was more toned down and optimistic with his assessment of Lonzo after the game.
âHeâs a quiet kid who doesnât say too much â  Wall  told ESPN. âHeâs been dealing with (LaVarâs outlandish comments) his whole life. It doesnât bother him. Itâs just new to everybody else.
Ball struggled shooting from the floor for the third time in four games this season  going 2-for-11 and missing all five attempts from beyond the arc. But his 10 assists  and eight rebounds â including a board and length-of-the-court assist with 20 seconds left to help force overtime â proved to be a major difference-maker. Ball struggled in spurts against  Wall  defensively  but collaboratively the Lakers were able to contain the All-Star point guard.
Wall  who finished with 18 points and nine assists  said he was motivated by LaVarâs taunts earlier this week to the Wizards to âbeware.â To that  Wizards big man Marcin Gortat tweeted that  Wall  would âtortureâ Ball  while  Wall himself  said  he  planned to show âno mercy.â

SOLUTION:
Neutral