UMBC hosts United Nations visitor

the
retrIever
week ly
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
05.12.09
VOLUME 43 ISSUE 28
retrieverweekly.com
Campus
carnival
doesn’t
please
everyone
Green
Space
to arrive
in fall
semester
Anne Verghese
Dinah Douglas
EDITORIAL STAFF
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A group of undergraduate students
who go by the name of GreenSpace
were the first winners of the Student
Government Association’s (SGA)
Prove It! initiative. The campaign
that began in November 2007 gave
students $50,000 and the chance to
come up with a strategy on how to
further improve UMBC.
According to GreenSpace’s proposal, they wanted to “create a public outdoor space located near the
Gallery Entrance of the Fine Arts
Building that will become a comfortable, aesthetically appealing place to
gather, rest and study for the entire
UMBC community.”
The group foresaw that their
proposal needed to be completed
in four phases: needs analysis-site
evaluation, community outreach,
need analysis-division of labor, and
construction.
Site evaluation began in the fall
of 2007 and the division of labor
was evaluated in April 2008. During February of 2008, the group
got over 400 students and faculty to
sign a petition supporting the proposal and its initiatives. Also during this time, GreenSpace, through
various types of advertisements, recruited volunteers to help with the
construction of the project.
The group projected that their
efforts would be “completed with
the joint efforts of the UMBC campus managerial staff and volunteer
students [and] depending on the
desires of the UMBC campus administrations, [they] propos[ed]
completing construction planning
in March and April 2008, construction by contractors in summer 2008,
took place last year, created several different forums which focused on gender
rights, indigenous rights, and the right
to healthcare. Kang’s forum, however,
focused on the process of defending human rights. Kang began her speech with
a brief history on the Declaration of Human Rights. “It was founded on the belief
that unity on the basis of shared ideas,
could overcome hatred, brutality, and
destruction, and make for a better world
where freedom and equality converge.”
This was a “direct echo of FDR’s vision
of four interlocking freedoms—freedom
Quadmania is UMBC’s biggest yearly
event, though for some it is also the year’s
biggest disappointment.
The process of planning Quadmania
is labor-intensive, driven by members
of the Student Events Board and its subcommittees, and financed out of the SEB
and SGA budgets. Although the event
pleases some of UMBC’s diverse campus,
not all are satisfied.
This is not a profit-turning venture,
said SEB President Sameeha Azeez, and
according to figures provided by current
SGA Treasurer Yasmin Karimian, this
year’s event cost nearly $80,000. “We
spend a lot of money trying to make
this event happen, and sometimes, if we
are lucky, we will break even through
ticket sales,” remarked Azeez. Big costs
for Quadmania include security, UMBC
police, the inflatable games at the carnival, power generators, fuel, stage set-up,
and of course, the headlining music act.
Given all of the expenses Quadmania
incurs, some students wonder what
the worth of the activity really is. Azeez
is adamant that the hard work, elbow
grease, and most of all, money, put into
making Quadmania a success is to create
a way for students to have a big event on
campus that is “a chance for students to
feel a sense of community, involvement,
have fun, re-charge before finals, continue a campus tradition, and just feel good
about going to this school.”
Making sure everyone enjoys Quadmania and its activities is goal one of the
SEB, but they do recognize that not everyone will be happy with the event. “It’s
hard to please everyone with a campus as
diverse as ours. So we try to give people
a variety of things to do so that there is
something they will enjoy,” noted Azeez,
pointing to the fact that there is variety
> see UN [4]
> see QUADMANIA [6]
I nsIde
> see GREEN [6]
NEWS
01
Where has all
the activism
gone?
ABNET SHIFERAW — TRW
> Freshman Maddy Hall (Environmental Studies) dresses up as a clown during Jest for Fun on Wednesday May 6.
UMBC hosts United Nations visitor
Emily Jackson
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
UN deputy Dr. Kyung-wha Kang defends citizens whose human rights have
been violated by oppressive governments.
On May 5, UMBC hosted a UN Rights
forum with Deputy High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Dr. Kang. Kang, who
had been appointed the title of deputy
high commissioner in September 2006,
is a national of the Republic of Korea and
was Director-General of International
Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Trade of the Republic. She
OPINION
MLB holds
players
to unfair
standards
10
has a portfolio that covers a wide range of
UN issues, including human rights. She
also served as Minister at the Republic of
Korea Mission to the United Nations in
New York and chaired the Commission
on the Status of Women for its fortyeighth session in 2004 and its forty-ninth
session in 2005, which marked the tenth
anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
The talk was hosted by the Drescher
Center for the Humanities. Director Dr.
Rebecca Boehling opened for Kang, who
would speak to round out the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human
Rights. The 60th anniversary, which
ARTS
Campus claps
for music
and dance
14
SPORTS
Softball
Swept At AEC
Semifinals
25
ONLINE
Ben Cardin
visits UMBC
2
News
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
foreign desk
Flamenco: Passionate and
emotional music and dance
Melanie Bryant
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
My last weekend and week in Valencia passed too quickly. The weekend was mostly spent sleeping in,
napping at the beach, and studying
for my finals. Sunday night I met up
with Dotty and we went to La Claca,
a bar downtown that has Flamenco
performances every Sunday evening. I
arrived early to get a good seat, which
was lucky because the place filled up
and otherwise we would have had to
stand, unable to see.
Four chairs and three microphones
were set up at the back of the stage,
which was really only ten feet from
us. Dotty and I quizzed each other on
Spanish literature for a few minutes
while waiting for the performers to
arrive; in exchange for coming out
two nights before the exam, I had to
promise Dotty that I would help her
study. The lights were dim, the atmosphere close and cozy. We sipped our
sangria, Spain’s punch, as we waited.
The performers arrived and
marched on stage: two women and
two men, one with an acoustic guitar in hand. One woman was young,
certainly not more than 30, and wore
a black and red dress down to her
ankles. The others were dressed less
formally. The guitarist started without
introduction, and the crowd silenced.
The older woman started singing
then, and I was entranced for the next
hour and a half.
Flamenco music is unlike anything
I’ve ever heard. It’s a passionate and
emotional music, heart wrenching
with a strong emphasis on the performance. Almost all Flamenco music is
sad, about heartbreak and lost homes,
although sometimes it can be fast. It
actually originated in Andalucia, but
is fairly popular everywhere. Over
the centuries it’s been influenced by
all the varying occupying empires of
Spain, though mainly it comes from
the gitanos, or gypsies.
The man and the woman on stage
alternated singing, the guitarist providing the only accompaniment.
People in the crowd and the performers not singing called out “Olé!” appreciatively, or murmured it as praise
during the softer parts of the performance. The last number of the first
half introduced the dance, which,
like the music, is entirely unique, at
least compared to anything I’ve ever
seen.
The younger woman on stage stood
up and began moving to the music,
her expression concentrated, her
arms and hands moving gracefully
and forcefully. Her feet moved faster
than I could really follow, close as I
was, and the rhythm of the music was
beat out by her steps. I couldn’t believe how perfectly timed her movements were to the guitar, how they
complemented each other so well, it
was almost as if she were a reincarnation of the music itself, and without
the music one could hear it just in the
movement of her body.
My exams went well this week,
and after our last the entire class went
across the street from the university
for a celebratory drink with our professor. I was a little sad it was the
last time I’d see some of my friends,
and I felt as if I were just getting to
know them. I spent that afternoon at
the beach with some people from my
class, kicking the soccer ball around
and hoping that for my lack of sunscreen I still wouldn’t get sunburned.
I cooked Tortilla Española with Alba
that night, procrastinating packing
another night, and went out to watch
the soccer game after dinner.
Barcelona played Chelsea in the
semifinals. We watched the first half
in an Irish bar surrounded by British
people, all of whom supported Chelsea. While I haven’t kept up with the
tournament this semester, and don’t
really have a favorite team, I rooted
for Barcelona for a change of pace (last
year’s final was Chelsea-Manchester).
The game started poorly for Barcelona, Chelsea scoring in the first ten
minutes or so. We moved after halftime to a less crowded bar across the
street to join some other friends, but
missed nothing important. Barcelona
got a red card five minutes before the
90-minute mark, which all Barce fans
thought was a ridiculous call.
I thought the game was over at 90
minutes but it went into overtime,
which turned out well for Barcelona.
With about one minute and a half to
spare, Barcelona pulled off an amazing goal, and the game was tied at 1-1.
The entire bar went wild, everyone
yelling and high-fiving. I was pretty
caught up in the excitement despite
not knowing anything about soccer
besides what I learned from playing
FIFA freshman year.
No one scored in the last minute
and Barcelona was victorious (since
the game was at Chelsea, and points
count more if you’re the away team).
On TV, the crowd in the stands sat
dejectedly, except for the small percentage of Barcelona fans who had
traveled all the way to London for
the game. The team was going wild
and the Chelsea players harassed the
referee all the way off the field.
I spent my last full day in Valencia
doing some last minute gift shopping, then packing. I took the pictures down off the wall, said goodbye
to my host parents’ daughter-in-law,
who almost started crying (as did I),
and tried to figure out Saturday’s travel plans. I watched my show, Apuesta
por un Amor, with my host parents,
and went to bed early, tired and not
COURTESY SHENKHENPARTY.COM
> Flamenco consists of three main parts: guitarre (guitar), centra (song)
and baile (dancing).
looking forward to finishing packing
the next day.
I have to say goodbye to my host
parents today, and tonight to all my
friends from International Studies
Association, some of whom I might
never see again. On the other hand,
tonight starts my travel adventures
anew; I still have a month and a half
in Europe to visit family, and travel
to Italy, Austria, Prague, and London
with two of my best friends from
home. With that in mind, I think I
can manage to say goodbye to Valencia, to my host family, and to my
friends, or more appropriately, hasta
luego!
Comments can be sent to
mbryant1@umbc.edu.
NOAH BENNETT — TRW
> (Left to right) Sophomores Johanna Doty
(English) and Michelle
Martin (Visual Arts) with
freshman Brittant Earnest (Engineering) take
part in spontaneous
chalk art during Jest for
Fun.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
News
3
Students frustrated by UMBC’s
“one major per diploma” rule
Katrina Cohen
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
PATRICIA DAVILA — TRW
> Dr. Thomas Field has watched the UMBC campus evolve in the 30 years he
has worked here.
With spring commencement around
the corner, visions of future diplomas are
beginning to enter into students’ minds.
Yet expectations may not match reality,
as many soon-to-be graduates with more
than one major or minor will need to select one primary major to appear on their
diplomas, according to the Office of the
Registrar.
For some students, this limitation
is a cause for personal, financial, or future frustration. Junior Sarah Cantell is
a double major in Political Science and
History. “I worked hard for them,” she
said, believing that she should be able to
have both majors listed on her diploma.
“You should at least get two [majors or
minors listed],… especially if you don’t
know what you’re going to pursue,”
said senior Michael Hyatt, also a double
major in Political Science and History.
“You have to pay to take the classes,” he
added.
Additionally, “some employers actually
want to see [your diploma],” said junior
Gillian Yeadon, “and then you have to
explain, ‘I actually have a minor.’” “That’s
your reputation,” Yeadon said.
In response to these concerns, University Registrar Dr. Steven Robinson
and Associate Registrar Lydia Jackson
Fryer said not to worry. “Don’t mistake
the roll of the transcript with the roll of
the diploma,” Robinson said. All majors
and course accomplishments appear on
the transcript. “The people that count,”
including potential employers, Robinson
explained, “will see everything you’ve
done” on the transcript.
In Robinson’s personal opinion, majors are “critical” but need not be listed
on diplomas because transcripts effectively serve that purpose. Graduating
students also receive recognition for all
of their majors and minors on the commencement program, said Fryer. There
is “no actual work that you’re doing for
nothing,” she said.
For some students, a simple solution to
the diploma question might be to make
the document larger or the font smaller.
However, the Office of the Registrar cannot make these changes, said Robinson.
Enlarging the diploma would cause the
document to be unwieldy, while cluttering the paper with more text would, he
said, “lose the gravitas of the document.”
“Because of potential fraud,” Robinson
pointed out, “you want [UMBC diplomas] all to be similar.” For this reason,
lines of text to accommodate additional
majors or minors cannot be added for
some individual graduates and not oth-
ers.
Based on their level of certainty about
future careers, some students will have
less difficulty selecting a primary major
than others. Tiffany Jones, a junior majoring in Social Work and Sociology, will
select Social Work as her primary major.
“I plan on working in social work and
not research,” she said, “but I can see
how that could be a dilemma” for other
students.” Hyatt, for one, is not certain
which of his two majors will eventually
pertain more to his chosen occupation
after graduation.
Students who would like to graduate
with a dual degree—and two separate diplomas—may do so by completing 150
credits, 30 more credits than the graduation requirement of 120, including the
requirements for two major degrees and
University graduation requirements.
Regardless of whether a student is
eligible for two degrees, the “diploma,”
Fryer reminded, “is just what you put on
the wall.”
Yet the debate over the diploma may
well continue, as Jones also said: “I’m still
earning that honor [of a second major]
and should be recognized.”
Comments can be sent to
katco1@umbc.edu.
UMBC MLL faculty
World is Flat author to speak at
member named Lipitz commencement ceremony
Prof. of the Arts
Gaby Arevalo
EDITORIAL STAFF
Dr. Thomas Field has been named the
Lipitz Professor of the Arts, Humanities,
and Social Sciences for Academic Year
2009-10. The award is awarded in order
“to recognize and support innovative and
distinguished teaching and research in
the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
at the University of Maryland, Baltimore
County.”
Dr. Field has been at UMBC since
1979, and has seen it evolve from what
“looked like a research park” to an engaging campus. “Students are stronger, more
informed, they talk about intelligent
things,” says Field. Dr. Field was chair of
his department from 1992 to 1996 and
was Director of the Center for the Humanities from 1999 to 2005.
Focusing his research on the Occitan
language, an endangered language in
the south of France, has been a rewarding experience for Field. “Studying any
language, even a dying or dead one,
is helpful to a linguist. Understanding
the roots of this language can help in
understanding another language,” Field
explains. Dr. Field is also doing research
on the Gascon dialect of Occitan, which
is “kind of a mixture of French and the
languages of Spain.” Field initially chose
to study Occitan and Gascon because
his wife is from that area of France and
he was able to “do the research early on
without having to pay for a hotel,” he
says with a smie.
Dr. Field is creating an electronic corpus of Medieval Gascon. By converting
early texts into a digital format, it will be
easier for linguists to find patterns in the
language over time. “It may not sound
interesting to everyone, but to me, to a
linguist, being able to find every instance
of the imperfect subjunctive in the literature can help in discovering the way
a language has changed,” he states. His
research has also brought about discoveries in the culture of southern France
and the trends in the spread of the language. “We’ve discovered that the two
main sources of change were two cities
on the coast and moving inland, whereas
it was first thought that the changes were
coming from Toulouse,” Field explains.
This past year, Dr. Field has taken on
student research assistants to aide him
in his work. Scott Gautney, a junior and
one of Field’s research assistants says that
“Dr. Field is a great professor and a great
researcher, and he truly deserves this
award.” Junior Caitlin McAnallen agrees.
“This is my second semester working
with Dr. Field, and it’s an honor. I see this
as an opportunity to work with someone
who is passionate about their field of
work, and it’s really cool that Dr. Field
has given us the chance to experience a
practical application of what we’re studying. Dr. Field is humble about his work,
but he is doing a great thing and I can’t
think of anyone who deserves this award
more,” she says.
Comments can be sent to
garevalo@retrieverweekly.com.
> Tom Friedman, author of the bestselling nonfiction The World is Flat.
The commencement speaker for the
2009 graduation from UMBC will be
Thomas Friedman, an award-winning
New York Times journalist and author
of such books as “The World Is Flat”
which analyzes globalization and “Hot,
Flat, and Crowded” which posits that
working to combat global warming is
the best method to increase the United
States’ standing in the world.
Friedman gained notoriety in 2003
when he supported the invasion of
Iraq. Subsequent developments made
him reconsider his views, namely the
mishandling of the invasion by the
Bush administration and the subsequent uprising in Iraq. By 2006
Friedman was advocating disengagement from the quagmire that Iraq had
become and supported a timetable for
withdrawal.
In his column and books Friedman
has also advocated for “clean coal”
which has angered some environmentalists who see his commitment to energy independence as less “green” and
more selfish.
In addition to his writings Friedman has hosted several documentaries
on the Discovery channel about terrorism and the world economy.
Friedman was born in Minnesota
and received his undergraduate degree
from Brandeis University. He also received a Master of Philosophy from St.
Antony’s College at Oxford University.
He currently lives in Bethesda with his
wife and two daughters.
Police log
APRIL 30
Parking Lot 18
Destruction of Property
A UMBC student reported
that his tire had been slashed.
It was also discovered that the
side of his vehicle had a long,
thin scratch down the driver’s
side.
MAY 1
Math/Psychology Bldg.
Theft from Buildings
A UMBC student reported
that his backpack containing
his laptop and his calculator
had been taken while it was left
unattended.
MAY 4
Albin Kuhn Library Bldg.
2nd-Degree Assault with
Hands, etc.
A UMBC student called to
say that his girlfriend and her
ex-boyfriend were arguing. He
also stated that the ex-boyfriend
had just assaulted him, but he
did not want to press charges or
seek medical attention. A Judicial Referral was issued in this
incident.
Biological Sciences
Theft from Buildings
A UMBC student reported
that her backpack containing
a laptop and digital camera
along with other items was
stolen while left intermittently
unattended. The backpack was
found. All items were recovered
except the laptop.
4
News
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
A trip to the southern end of the world: Ushuaia
Gavin Way
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
We all know the feeling: classes
are over, finals are done, but work
has yet to start so now you have a
week of down time. Different students come up with different ways
of spending that time, many content
to waste it away in front of the TV,
make a stupid YouTube video, or
one of those otherwise useless acts
that we all do and still get so much
pleasure from. But for those of us in
Argentina who had just finished our
four-month long intensive Spanish
program, it was time to travel. We
had one week and like some sad reality show, we were off.
I chose to do Southern Patagonia,
traveling to Ushuaia and then El
Calafate. Ushuaia was definitely the
highlight of this awesome trip. For
those of you who have not heard of
Ushuaia, it holds the unique distinction of being the southern-most city
in the world, sitting on the coast of
the Beagle Channel as the tip of the
Americas. A very popular tourist
attraction in its own right because
of this distinction, it is also home
to extremes of both wilderness and
wildlife.
The land is a jagged mess as the
Andes come cascading up from the
sea, ensuring that visitors are always
walking either up or downhill. The
harsh mountainous terrain, combined with the extreme southern
location, makes this a popular ski
destination in the winter (the northern hemisphere’s summer). The
Beagle Channel adds stark contrast:
a vast body of cold, steel-colored
water with low-lying islands dotting
the surface. Compounding the terrain’s allure and pure rawness is the
weather. This region of the world
is notorious for sudden and violent
changes in weather. Just like Maryland year-round, the weather can’t
get its act straight. While there, I experienced blinding sun, light snow
and rain, and temperature fluctuations. The animals that inhabit this
land are diverse and another major
reason for the tourism. During the
summer, it’s possible to see nesting
penguins, seals, kelp forests, and all
sorts of sea birds just in the channel. Then there is the national park
nearby, a vast emptiness that trekkers consider one of the global trekking Meccas.
Though we only took two days in
Ushuaia, we feel like we got plenty
done. The first day we did a boat
tour of the Beagle Channel, exploring some of the small islands the
seals and sea birds call home. As I
watched the seals race along our
boat, jump through our wake (I
COURTESY WIKIMEDIA.ORG
> Ushuaia is the capital of the Argentina province of Tierra del Fuego. Due to its southern most location it is home
to the tourist attraction known as the “End of the World Train.”
didn’t even know they could jump
out of water!), and play with each
other, I was stunned, as someone
who works at the National Aquarium
and grew up around dolphins, by
the similarities in behaviors between
the seals and dolphins. The next day
was highlighted by our trekking of
the Glacier Martial, a short taxi ride
right outside of the city. This was
a great chance to get up close and
personal with a lot of the extreme
terrain and wildlife, and though the
hike was exhausting, the views were
just inspiring. Some places leave you
with more than just a memory of a
view or experience, though: places
like Ushuaia teach you something.
Comments can be sent to
gavin.way.ar@gmail.com.
Prominent UN human rights proponent speaks to students
> from UN [1]
from want, fear, freedom of worship, and
freedom of expression; a vision which
challenged the international community
emerging from the horrors of WWII and
The Holocaust,” she continued. Other
goals in the framework of the declaration included the promotion of liberty
through democracy, justice, and an equitable distribution of resources—creating
a tolerant environment for all. The
founders envisioned a world where citizens lived free from hunger, oppression,
and violence—and everyone had access
to the basics: food, clothing, housing,
free education, and healthcare.
The declaration planted the seeds for
a global culture of human rights and, six
decades later, a “complex web of international human rights instruments has
embraced the values that this Declaration
has spelled out—including economical,
social, political, and cultural rights,”
Kang explained. All states have ratified
at least one of the core international and
human rights treaties, most, 80 percent,
have ratified at least four or more of these
instruments. “However, this evolution
over the past several decades has not
been without challenges,” she continued.
“In the aftermath of World War II and the
geopolitical bipolarity of the Cold War,
the vision taken by the declaration of human rights [was undermined]—creating
a disagreement between nations.”
Developing countries argued that economical and cultural rights were of more
importance than those of political and
social rights. On the other side, western
governments argued that this approach
would impose on the financial obligations of the states, or hamper free market
practices. “So, they favored civil and political rights—which were more akin to
their traditions, and later became known
as the pillars of democracy,” Kang explained. Social, cultural, and economical
rights languished until global dynamic
rights started to take shape, a process
that can be seen from both the destruction of the Berlin Wall and demise of the
Cold War.
According to Kang, human rights
stand at the core of the relationship between a government and its people. Thus,
universal adaptation of the declaration is
still ongoing due to the stubbornness
of non-democratic governments. “They
loathe being told how to relate to their
people—and become self righteous and
defensive if the critical focus is on them,”
she stated. “But people today are more
rights conscious. They are increasingly
aware of their rights as human beings,
and, as a result are quick to anger and
injustice when their rights are denied.”
Kang also added that this was a major
catalyst for social change.
Her next topic of discussion was the
institutional framework of the declaration of human rights, where she provided a brief background on the creation
of her office, and the various people who
held the position of High Commissioner
for the United Nations.
“There is often much confusion between the office,” Kang continued. The
Human Rights Council replaced the
former Commission of Human rights
that drafted the original Declaration of
Human Rights. Kang’s office, Office of
the High Comissioner of Human Rights
(OHCHR), created the post of High
Commissioner but never drafted the task
of said position. “Thus, the work fell on
the general assembly on what a High
Commissioner should be and do, and as
a result, resolution 48/141 was passed.
It offered much flexibility for future adaptation and response to evolving needs
and conditions, [and would] largely
determine the evolution and orientation
of the office and the UN human rights
program,” Kang said. Thus, “each commissioner has made his or her mark as
the office has evolved over the first fifteen
years.”
Out of the six people who held the
position of High Commissioner of Human Rights over the years, the two most
recent, Louise Arbour of Canada—from
2004-2008—and Navanethem Pillay
of South Africa—from 2008 to present helped the OHCHR get where it is
today.
Arbour’s plan for office helped to give
“human rights a new standing, as one of
the three pillars of the United Nations,”
stated Kang. It also called for OHCHR to
replace the Commission of Human Rights
and strengthen the Office of the High
Commisioner by doubling the budget’s
funding. This allowed for its members to
work directly from headquarters to the
fields [with other government officials]
at a more integrated approach.
“When Navanethem Pillay assumed
the next position, the OHCHR’s functionality and institutional maturity was in its
bright stage,” Kang explained. However,
several challenges—both new and old
continued to arise, including but not
NOAH BENNETT — TRW
> Dr. Kyung-Hwa Kang furthers international human rights through her work
with the United Nations.
limited to: discrimination, poverty, conflict, torture, rape, executions, and detentions “continue to occur and often go
unpunished.” As a result, many skeptics
viewed the OHCHR as just as inferior as
the Commission of Human Rights once
was. According to Kang, “Many skeptics
in the U.S. and elsewhere were unwilling
to give [the OHCHR] the benefit of the
doubt.” The reason? “Because many human rights abusers can use the forum for
pardons and grants, and to shelter themselves regarding their less than pristine
[values] on human rights.”
However, while little can be done to
control this, the OHCHR is working
hard in other areas, especially working
to end genocide. “[Pillay], who grew
up as a non-white in South Africa during the new regime, [knows first-hand]
that it is not so much identity issues, but
marcularization, exclusion, and discrimination—as well as a denial of human
rights including economical, social, and
cultural rights that are the root of genocide and other large scale human rights
abuses,” Kang explained. With that said,
Navanethem Pillay swears to refrain from
turning a blind eye on the first signs of
genocide in order to prevent such further
atrocities.
Unfortunately, many Americans remain unconvinced. Dr. Kang is disappointed to see that the UN is still receiving a lot of harsh criticism in the U.S.,
probably because of the 9/11 attacks.
She urges the Obama administration to
restore American trust in the UN by focusing his agenda on human rights, and
maximize U.S. participation by running
for a seat in the HR council, an idea that
was embraced by Clinton, only to get rejected by Bush two terms later.
Comments can be sent to
emjacks1@umbc.edu.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
News
5
Two UMBC students elected to Council of State
positions at Maryland Student Legislature session
Dinah Douglas
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
While most UMBC students spent
the first weekend in May relaxing, a
group of four young politicians spent
it drafting legislation and debating
bills at the Annapolis State House.
They may not be actual delegates and
senators, but members of the UMBC.
Maryland Student Legislature (MSL)
prepared themselves for politicking
in the future through a weekend of
networking events with state and
local politicians and debate on pertinent issues to the state.
UMBC’s MSL delegation received a
special distinction at this spring’s legislative session when two of the six
positions on Maryland Student Legislature’s Council of State were elected
from the UMBC group of four. Kathleen Mettle, a junior Political Science
major, and Paul Schuman, also a
Political Science major, were elected
to the positions of Secretary of State
and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. The statewide council consists
additionally of student Governor,
Speaker of the Assembly, Attorney
General, and Comptroller. These
positions were open to students representing universities from across the
state and having two coming directly
from UMBC is a great honor, sophomore Political Science major Andrea
Thomson, another member of UMBC’s delegation, remarked.
When a large group of college
students from eight universities receive free reign of the State House
to debate legislation that they have
both written and persuaded others to
support, things can get very impassioned. “It’s a good mix of debating
the death penalty, Israel, and serious
things, plus debating, say, whether
we should pass a resolution to honor
Chuck Norris.” Chuck Norris legisla-
tion might not be feasible in the actual state legislating bodies, but such
mood-lightening bills are necessary
to counter the serious issues discussed during the majority of MSL.
About 80 bills made it to the floor for
debate and consideration during the
last legislative session.
Michelle Santos, the Student
Governor for 2009-2010, represented the College of Notre Dame
of Maryland. Santos has had a great
experience with MSL since she began
participating. “It’s amazing to see
a piece of legislation that you have
written being debated by other students and if passed being read by an
actual legislature who might get an
idea for a real life bill. To me, that
is amazing,” Santos said. Debate, the
bread and butter of law-making and
MSL, is Santos’ favorite part of the
organization. Santos explained, “Being able to hold a good debate and
knowing all the rules and the process
of passing legislation will help these
students not only better understand
the actual legislature but also prepare
them for future careers within the
legislature.”
Mettle spoke about her experience
at the legislative session, mentioning
that just sitting in the seats of delegates and senators had encouraged
her to run for General Assembly some
day in the future. And as for taking
the oath of Secretary of State and
standing at the podium of the Speaker of the Assembly, Mettle remarked,
“I felt like I was playing dress up and
playing pretend swearing in for the
President. It was awesome.”
As for next year, Mettle said that
she and the other members of the
Council of State will be trying to fill
all of the seats in the House of Delegates chamber. UMBC’s MSL meets
during free hour on Fridays and
students interesting in joining will
COURTSEY LAUREN PAYNE
> The Maryland Student Legislature prides themselves in being the “voice of college students across Maryland.”
Above: Delegations from colleges and universities across the state of Maryland on the steps of the Annapolis
State House.
be eligible to receive credit for participation.
Devon Chamberlain, a member
of UMBC’s delegation remarked,
“You get to meet people from different schools who are just as passionate about things as you are and
you build relationships,” remarked
Chamberlain. “In general, it’s kind of
good, clean, nerdy fun,” said Mettle,
who went on to say, “We’re cut from
the same cloth...I felt a bit like I had
found my tribe.”
Schuman and Mettle will be carrying on duties for their positions this
year, and Brian Griffiths, MSL Chair-
man of the Board, remarked, “UMBC
has a long history of outstanding
leadership in MSL, and I expect Paul
and Katie to continue that tradition.”
Santos said of Lieutenant Governor
of MSL Schuman, “I am extremely
happy to have Paul as my Lieutenant
Governor. He is MSL and represents
it well. His passion to make MSL a
great organization and to expand it
leaves me in awe.” She went on to
express her happiness with the election of Mettle, saying, “She shows
tremendous potential as being the
new Secretary of State and by being
so inquisitive on the aspects of MSL
and having the ability to learn her
job so quickly will surely make her
an amazing [Secretary of State] for
the upcoming year.”
UMBC has participated in the annual Legislative Session in the Senate
and House of Delegates chambers at
the State House regularly since 1996.
The Council of State also saw representation from the College of Notre
Dame of Maryland, Salisbury University, and McDaniel College.
Comments can be sent to
dinahd1@umbc.edu.
Live long and prosper: Ways to stay healthy
Elizabeth Silberholz
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
I am neither a life coach nor
Spock. I am just a senior moving
on up to medical school. Before I
leave The Retriever Weekly, though,
I want to give a brief review of
some of the topics that were discussed this year.
Anti-viral facial tissues. The
Kleenex anti-viral tissue manufacturer claims that their anti-viral facial tissue deactivates 99.9 percent
of all rhinoviruses (type 1A and 2),
influenza A and B, and respiratory
syncytial virus. However, the tissue
is not effective against other viruses
responsible for respiratory illness,
or bacteria. Proper hand washing is
still the best way to stop the spread
of disease.
Binge drinking. More than 40
percent of college students report
that they binge drink. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system
and over-drinking can damage
dendrites in the cerebellum, decreasing motor coordination and
one’s ability to learn. Heavy drinking over a long period of time can
cause permanent brain damage.
Binge drinking in college students
has been associated with decreased
academic performance, death, injury, and sexual assault.
Chocolate. Chocolate, which
boasts over 380 chemical components, has been enjoyed for thousands of years. Not only does chocolate contain opioids, which trigger
feelings of euphoria and dull pain,
but it also increases brain activity. Dark chocolate, especially, has
health-boosting effects. It has been
shown to prevent certain cancers,
improve circulation, and stave off
coughs and diarrhea.
Noise-induced hearing loss.
The use of earbud headphones has
been linked to increasing numbers
of teens and young adults suffering from noise-induced hearing
loss (NIHL). Vibrations from loud
noises damage tiny hairs inside the
ear’s cochlea. Listening to a portable music device (100 dB) with
earbuds instead of headphones
makes the music almost as loud as
listening to a leaf blower, rock concert, or chainsaw without hearing
protection (110-120 dB). Music
played at this level can cause hearing loss in a little over an hour. Try
following the 60 percent/60 minute
rule: listen to music at 60 percent
of the maximum volume for only
one hour a day.
Reduce stress. Long-term exposure to stress hormones negatively
affects the brain’s hippocampus,
which makes new memory formation and memory recall difficult.
Long-term stress can also be a distraction and affect one’s attention
span. Getting organized, prioritizing tasks, taking breaks, and asking for help are all ways to reduce
stress. REM sleep, daily exercise,
and a healthy diet are also proven
stress busters.
Comments can be sent to
esilber1@umbc.edu.
6
News
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
Students question mandatory
fee increase during forum
Alethea Paul
EDITORIAL STAFF
Full-time student fees have increased a total of $104, ten dollars
of which students agreed to raise by
voting “yes” on Referendum A. The
other $94 increase was decided by
members of the UMBC administration.
Four administrative officials, as
well as SGA President Yasmin Karimian, held an SGA fee forum May
4 to explain the necessity of the six
types of fee increases that add up to
the $104 total increase for the fiscal
year of 2011. Students were welcome to attend the forum, held in
the Student Organization Area in the
Commons, to ask questions for better
understanding regarding where their
money was going. All who were in
attendance were given a “Mandatory
Fee Proposals” outline packet, which
gave the dollar amounts for each fee
increase.
Lynne Schaefer, Vice President of
Administration and Finance, spoke
about the increases in auxiliary facilities costs. The proposed $5 increase will be used to pay back loans
taken out for upgrading the RAC and
Walker Field. Smaller additional recreational facilities are in the works, as
well, Schaefer explained.
Schaefer also touched upon the
transportation fee increase, in which
$18 will go to alternative parking
strategies, as the new Performing Arts
and Humanities Facility will be constructed on current parking lots of 8,
9, and 16. Schaefer plans to make up
for lost space and to “more efficiently
use the parking we already have.”
The loss of the lots may result in a
need to pay for additional parking.
Included in the $28 for transportation fees is the $5 transit vehicle
maintenance, renewal and security
fee, which the Commons Director,
Joseph Regier, explained. The increase is a result of expected fuel
costs and salary increases, as well
as adding in newer, greener vehicles
that will likely be smaller and hold
fewer people.
Regier also defended the need for
an increase in funding for the Commons. He called it “a modest proposal
for 2011.” The increase would be $20
for full-time undergrads. Utilities,
salary and benefit increases would be
included in this figure. Regier said,
“There needs to be smart investigation on where our money is being
spent in [the Commons].” He expressed a desire to make the building
greener and more energy efficient by
looking at heat recovery and shades
for the windows, which would help
with decreasing energy costs.
Dr. Charles Brown, Director of
Athletics, discussed the need for a
$34 increase for full-time undergraduate students which would help pay
for staff, America East requirements,
athletic scholarships, and RAC expenditures. The athletic department
hopes to give raises to all of their approximately 75 full-time employees
and add an additional basketball staff
member as required by America East.
The fee also needs to increase due to
inflation that causes the cost of scholarships to rise to pay for any increases
in room and board. Currently, scholarships given cost about $2.5 million.
The athletics department also hopes
to replace more cardio machines in
the RAC because they are constantly
used and worn out.
Newly-elected SGA President Yasmin Karimian said that the student
fees have increased due to the higher
number of events and organizations
supported by the SGA.
When all the speakers were done,
the floor was opened to questions.
Hope Nwairo, a junior commuter,
asked about the transit increase and
wanted to know if it was “going to
go towards the commuters that are
going to the downtown areas as opposed to the Arbutus areas.” She
explained how, in comparison, the
downtown line had fewer buses than
the Catonsville and Arbutus ones.
Regier responded that the downtown
line started to support UMBC and
UMB transportation mostly for staff.
He explained that UMB, the main
contributor to the line, has also faced
transit cost challenges and wants to
self-support their staff while UMBC
is more invested in the commuter.
“It is a very expensive route,” said
Regier, “and costs over $3,000 for
UMB.” He expressed that there may
be a chance of a combined effort to
keep the route, but “it is still up in
the air.” Another possibility includes
using Zip cars.
Paula McCusker, a sophomore
Chemical Engineering major and Assistant Director of Student Advocacy
of SGA, asked if there were any alternative ways of gathering data besides swipe cards, because there are
those that might not use the line, but
would hope to in the future. Regier
explained that he would get more
information by giving surveys for
those whom he knew rode the line
before the route ends, and promised
to think of a way to reach potential
riders.
Josh Michael, a junior majoring
in Political Science and Secondary
Education, wanted to know how this
year’s funds would be used in accordance with the RAC, and if extra
funds would possibly be going to the
weight room.
Brown responded by saying there
are rarely any extra funds; they often
have trouble with their teams coming
in on budget and because of budget
cuts, they have had to drop the field
hockey team. The money would be
used to “keep the conditions [of the
RAC] up to date and safe.” Most of
the RAC’s problems are in the aquatic
center, with cracked tiles and cracks
outside the swimming pool which
are dangerous. “Our number one priority is safety,” Brown said.
Brown also responded to the query
about the lack of growth in sports
clubs, which he explained the Athletics Department had to take into their
budget six or seven years back from
the SGA. “We were asked to take over
the funding and were given a $12 increase,” and that portion of athletics
fees has since increased the fastest.
Schaefer explained that there was
a prioritized list of improvements
to make as funds become available.
She also expressed her gratitude for
students passing Referendum A. “We
appreciate that students are now understanding you get what you pay
for.” She continued saying that the
administration hopes to fix “all the
things that are wrong on the list” and
that student opinion would likely
best help the administration prioritize their endeavors.
Comments can be sent to
alethea1@umbc.edu.
COURTESY SGA.UMBC.EDU
> Full time undergrads are expected to pay total increase of $104 for the fiscal year of 2011.
PATIRCIA DAVILA — TRW
> After a few delays, the Green Space ground breaking ceremony took
place on May 7.
Green Space to be
completed June 12
> from GREEN [1]
and student volunteer work in fall
2008.”
Although the timetable for Green
Space changed slightly, construction
finally began on Thursday, May 7
and it has been determined that the
project will be completed by June
12.
The SGA is planning to initiate
the second Prove It! campaign this
year with a few changes. Rather
than offering the winning proposal
$50,000 to implement their project,
the total prize money will now consist of $30,000. This amount, however, is subject to the discretion of
the new SGA to determine the final
project budget.
Groups will also be required to
have at least one faculty member
who will not serve as an advisor but
as a participant. The SGA is trying
to implement this change because it
will celebrate faculty participation,
creativity, and insight. It also “helps
with issues of feasibility concerns
among students, and administrators
will be encouraged to share expertise with all students. Therefore,
they won’t be official members of
the submitting groups, which was
encouraged but not enforced last
year,” SGA executive staff member,
Elani Odeyale, said.
Another change is that groups will
now consist mostly of non-graduating undergraduates. This does not,
however, mean that seniors cannot
participate.
In order to inspire partnerships
and opportunities, students are encouraged to look into relationships
with other partners like the Alex.
Brown Center for Entrepreneur-
ship in order for students to expand
available resources.
The student body will have the
opportunity to choose final proposals but these proposals must be feasible. The SGA is proposing that the
process be expanded to allow groups
more time to defend and revise their
proposal.
“Last year, there were issues with
the feasibility of the final five that
were published for student feedback. This time, we want the proposal writers to have more time to
address the proposals’ weaker points
and for the students to vote on the
best of these, however many that
may be,” Odeyale commented.
Last year, the selection committee consisted of students from the
SGA, The Retriever Weekly, and the
Student Events Board. This year,
however, the committee will be expanded to include the Office of Student Life, Office of Institutional Advancement, Alex. Brown Center for
Entrepreneurship, Honors College,
Facilities Management, and faculty
representatives. Another idea is to
also include alumni and graduate
students who declined an invitation
by the committee last year. Even if
the committee is expanded to include these other groups, a student
majority will still be upheld.
Upon completion of the Green
Space, a dedication ceremony will
be a part of Welcome Week 2009
and all faculty, staff, and students are
welcome to join in this celebration
of student ingenuity and collaboration as well as kick off the second
Prove It! campaign.
Comments can be sent to
averghese@umbc.edu.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
News
7
US House of Reps. keeps credit card companies in check
COURTESY REVERSEMORTGAGEGUIDES.ORG
> The US House of Representatives hopes to pass a bill which includes the
credit card holder’s Bill of Rights.
Marc Zerfas
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On April 30, the United States House
of Representatives passed in a vote of
357-70 a bill titled the Credit Card Bill
of Rights. This law is currently under
discussion by the Senate. If passed into
law, it will restrict how credit card companies can raise interest rates. In the past,
a similar law was passed by the House of
Representatives only to be stalled in the
Senate. This time, however, the bill has
the support of the President.
President Obama met with credit card
company executives on April 22 in order
to discuss possible ways to protect consumers. Obama remarked “the days of
any time, any reason rate hikes and late
fee traps have to end,” sending a clear
message on his views.
This change in credit card policy is
especially important to college students
who often have high credit bills due to
inexperience in managing personal finance. Students need to be especially
careful in their use of credit cards. Norman Dean, a sophomore at UMBC, “does
not want to spend money he doesn’t
have” especially when “debit cards do it
better.”
Credit scores are important in a bank’s
decision for one’s eligibility to get a loan.
Landlords have also been known to look
at possible tennants’ credit scores when
deciding whether to rent. Having a credit
card and failing to pay it off can quickly
drop one’s credit score. However, not
ever having a credit card can mean one
will have no credit score; although not
nearly as damaging as a poor score, it can
hinder attempts to get a loan.
Credit cards, if paid in full monthly,
can serve as an interest-free short-term
loan. However, balances carried over on
a credit card, even if the monthly minimum is paid, can generate large amounts
of interest and fees.
Under current laws, there is little restriction on how credit card companies
can change interest rates on unpaid balances. This can lead to card holders who
had been counting on low rates, being
shocked when monthly bills come much
higher due to interest rate changes, thus
leaving balances on their card. Card
companies are also allowed to raise rates
on balances earned before the change in
rates.
Under the Credit Card Bill, restrictions will be placed on the circumstances
of rate increases. Companies will also be
required to provide notification of rate
changes. To ensure card users understand card policies, the law will require
the small print on cards to be written in
easily understood terms.
Supporters of the Credit Card Bill of
Rights state there is an immediate need
for the law. With the current economic
downturn, many households have had to
turn to credit cards in order to pay bills.
According to White House estimates, 80
percent of US households have a credit
card. Current credit card debt in the
United States has reached $963 billion.
Although generally this bill has had
broad support from both parties in Congress, the issue of companies’ rights in
setting rates has been a point of contention. The bill prevents changing interest
rates on card holders who have paid their
bills on time but whose credit score has
decreased. This decrease in credit score
is considered a sign that their chance of
a loan default has increased. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kenneth
Clayton, senior vice president of card
policy at the American Bankers Association, said, “If you cannot adjust for the
behavior of a consumer or the risks that
they pose, you’re going to have to raise
rates for everybody at the outset.” This
clause in the Credit Card Bill of Rights,
supported by Democrat lawmakers, has
Republican senators fearing such a policy could increase rates on card holders
who maintain good credit scores. Credit
card executives have also made the case
that the Credit Card Bill of Rights is not
necessary as rules created by the Federal
Reserve, coming into effect next year,
will cover the same issues.
As many of the banks receiving bailout money increase credit card rates,
some politicians have been driving for
faster and more restrictive laws on what
credit card companies can and cannot
do. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Bernie
Sanders, an Independent from Vermont,
have both been spearheading stronger
credit card reforms. In an article in the
Huffington Post, Sanders writes that increasing transparency is not enough, “we
must pass a national usury law and place
a cap on interest rates.” When the Senate
debates the final wording on this law it
will not be over if the government needs
to step in on the issue of credit cards, but
by how much.
Comments can be sent to
marczerfas@yahoo.com.
Quadmania receives mixed reviews from student body
> from QUADMANIA [1]
in musical acts on the outdoor stage, as
well as different rides, attractions, and
giveaways. The SEB does want to try to
get everyone on campus to be involved
and have fun with Quadmania, and thus
they “try harder and learn from each
year,” said Azeez.
Because Quadmania is a 30-year
standing tradition, the SEB finds it important to keep putting on the event
for students. As the name suggests,
Quadmania was originally held on the
Quad itself, but has since moved to the
parking lot where it is held today. While
some question the reasoning behind
this move, or at the least why it is still
called “Quadmania” when the Quad is
not involved, Azeez assures that there is
a reason behind this decision. The event
has outgrown the Quad and had to be
moved due to “university restrictions.”
However, Azeez explains, “It would be
ridiculous for us to change the name of
one of our only campus traditions just
because it isn’t ‘on the Quad.’ The word
‘Quadmania’ isn’t just about the location
of the event. It’s more about a feeling, a
tradition, a campus-wide excitement...”
Despite the work put into the event
by its organizers, dissent over the quality and worth of Quadmania cannot be
ignored. Junior Issa Legall noticed that
Quadmania might need to be revamped.
Legall chose not to participate in Quadmania this year because he feels that
“Quadmania is ‘little kids mania,’ and it
doesn’t represent adult fun. There’s too
much balloons and ice cream.” Freshman Tori Leung, who attended Quadmania festivities for the first time, agreed
that “[Quadmania is] your typical carnival. There wasn’t anything special. It was
more for little kids than college kids.”
And while these complaints center on
the carnival portion of Quadmania, it is
hard to ignore that much of Quadmania
rests on attendance to and paying for
rides and gimmicks that can be found
elsewhere. Asked if she expected more
from Quadmania, Leung replied, “I did
expect more. I expected more people, it
was kind of dead.”
However, other students enjoyed this
year’s event. Sophomore Daniel Supanick
went to Quadmania with some of his Pi
Kappa Phi pledge brothers and enjoyed
himself. “It’s for us and for our relaxation,
so it’s totally worth [being put on],” said
Supanick. This is just what Azeez believes, as she stated, “Part of our job as
SEB members is to help create a sense
of campus pride through the things that
happen on this campus. If we didn’t have
something that people can look forward
to every year, it would take a huge chunk
out of campus life.” Another sophomore,
Devon Chamberlain, is similarly enthusiastic about Quadmania and the activity it brings to the campus, and rebukes
the naysayers when it comes to how fun
Quadmania can be, “To me it seems like
a carnival is going to attract a younger
crowd, but why let that stop you from
having fun? Just because we’re in college
doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun,
right?”
The conclusion, then, might be that
not all parts of Quadmania are for all
people. For instance, sophomore Sabah Ghulamali explained that carnivals
“aren’t my thing,” but did go to the Girl
Talk concert the following weekend to
wrap up Quadmania festivities. “It was
an awesome dance party. I don’t know
how anyone wouldn’t have liked it. My
friends from other schools were jealous,”
she said. The Girl Talk concert received
rave reviews from many of the students
who went, but this choice, naturally, was
sure to spark some debate. Supanick
noted that he’d “rather have a live act,
not a DJ,” yet Ghulamali said that Girl
Talk was “way better than last year” with
T-Pain. Comments on the UMBC Un-
> Many of Quadmania’s rides, such as the one pictured above, entertained few visitors.
derground blog on the Girl Talk concert
inspired similar disputes. It is only fitting
that the SEB has come to understand that
in no way will everyone be pleased with
Quadmania, but they are committed to
improving the event for the future. “We
really want people to come in and try to
make a difference and make Quadmania
theirs instead of complaining about it
after the fact. SEB puts a lot of effort and
work into making this event happen, and
our goal is to keep allowing it to evolve
and grow every year,” remarked Azeez.
When there are complaints about
Quadmania, be they that it is boring,
doesn’t have enough variety, or otherwise, the SEB responds by encouraging
students to give them feedback. The SEB
hosts forums on Quadmania events in
the fall semester and also leaves its doors
open to committee meetings so that students might come in and help get their
opinions heard on what needs to change
at Quadmania to generate more enthusiasm. A major complaint among students
would be the price of the carnival, which
Legall, Chamberlain, and Ghulamali all
agreed was too high. Legall went so far
as to propose other solutions other than
lowering the price, to include utilizing
the pool and the RAC for “parties and
sports,” and keeping the events going
on longer, saying, “We’re adults, there’s
no need for a 10:00 curfew.” He went on
to add, “UMBC has the potential to be
extremely fun, but right now, it’s not.”
However, Azeez explains that neither
the “curfew” nor the price is up to the
SEB. Because of Arbutus noise constrictions, the carnival cannot go on past
10:00pm. “Unfortunately, SEB doesn’t
have the power to change the rules of the
city around us,” Azeez remarked. And
as for the price of the carnival, SEB does
not control how high that gets either. The
partnership with the company that puts
on the carnival and brings in the rides
forces the SEB to relinquish the ability to set the cost to ride. The company
does not charge the SEB as much as they
might for another event, and therefore
has to make up the cost by bringing in
some of the more unpopular “kiddie”
rides that bring complaints. Azeez hears
ACHSAH JOSEPH — TRW
these complaints from the students, and
assures that because the SEB does not
make money off of Quadmania’s festivities, they’d rather be able to address
those issues themselves: “If it were up to
us, there would be no kiddie rides and
everything would be free, […] and our
main concern is people actually coming
and having a good time, not to make
money.”
The Quadmania planning process
is at its peak from January to April, but
all year long it is at the forefront of the
SEB’s agenda. From choosing musical
acts to organizing rides and events, they
have a lot of work going into putting on
a fun weekend for the UMBC campus.
Recognizing that there is always room
for improvement, which means listening
to the many complaints students may
wish to express, the SEB clearly has its
intentions in the right place in order to
cultivate a lively campus community for
Quadmania weekend.
Comments can be sent to
dinahd1@umbc.edu.
8
News
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
Few students aware of UMBC’s history of protests
Andrea Thomson
EDITORIAL STAFF
Forty to fifty college students held
anti-war signs and sat on the floor
of a classroom-lined hallway. The
students were staging a peaceful protest in hopes that their “occupation”
would bring to mind in passerbys
the American lives in jeopardy half a
world away. Across campus, hundreds
of student sympathizers took note of
the sit-in and several faculty members were fired for taking part in the
unfolding events. The Vietnam War
was close to its end, but students and
faculty at the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County were determined to
speak out against what they believed
to be an unjust war.
Few members of the UMBC community today are aware of the school’s
history of activism. Until the 1980s,
UMBC was home to numerous protests. The university’s 12-1 p.m. free
hour is a direct result of this past,
created when student protestors convinced administrators to give them a
period during the school day to organize.
In 1968, a radical pro-student
power, pro-civil rights, and anti-war
student government was elected in
response to student opposition to the
war in Vietnam. In the September
30, 1968 publication of The Retriever,
SGA president elect Daryl Hagy spoke
to the students of UMBC urging activism: “The problems which are now
frustrating the United States are not
separated from this university by ivycovered walls. They are just down the
street. We have demonstrated against
them. We have marched. We have
protested--but what have we offered
as solutions to them and how deep
is our commitment to work towards
their solutions? This is the new beginning students must now make, and
that I believe it is the destiny of students this year.”
All of this may seem like a long
time ago. Fred Pincus, assistant professor of Sociology, was one of a few
faculty members present during these
turbulent times. Pincus recalls rallies
by hundreds of students on the Quad
and a black student takeover of the administration building by a group who
wanted more black professors at the
institution. “There is much less student activity today,” Pincus said. “The
Poll:
Internet has changed things and now
there is a question of what is more effective, protests or the Internet…Personally, I think 100,000 people in the
street is more effective than 100,000
people in a Facebook group.”
Students today are much more concerned about finding jobs than past
students have been, Pincus noted. As
a result, fewer students take the time
to be activists and more are focused
academics and jobs. “I graduated from
college in 1964. If you were a college
graduate at that time, you were guaranteed a college level job. Now, that is
not necessarily the case. Today, people
don’t have that sense of security. This
affects student levels of activism and
even what courses they take,” said
Pincus. He continued, “Today many
students are not interested in anything
that is not immediately job related
and part of this reflects the economic
questions that exist.”
Currently, UMBC is home to several student activist organizations including a chapter of the NAACP, the
Solidarity Coalition (SoCo), Students
for Life, Students taking Action Now:
Darfur, and the Women’s Collective.
Pro-life group Students for Life and
radical left-wing SoCo have the largest
campus presence. Additionally, both
groups’ most recent displays of campus activism have faced challenges
from UMBC authorities.
In Fall 2007, Students for Life sued
the UMBC administration in the district court case Rock for Life UMBC
v. Hrabowski. The group claimed alleged personal injury caused by the
relocation of their Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) display from the
University Center to the lawn behind
the Commons. The GAP, a traveling
photo-mural exhibit made up of 24
signs measuring four feet by eight feet,
compares abortion to historically/recognized forms of genocide. Members
of Students for Life, then known as
Rock for Life, claim that by forcing
the GAP display to a less-frequented
location on campus, UMBC infringed
upon their right to freedom of speech.
The case is still ongoing.
“I’ve never once heard of a protest
on campus. However, in front of the
Commons toward the beginning of the
semester, there were some huge signs
depicting dead fetuses,” sophomore
Josh Laskin said of the GAP display.
“Some Christian group was protesting
COURTESY UMBC ARCHIVES
> This picture, taken from a 1971 UMBC yearbook, depicts the university’s history of activism.
abortion. I thought the pictures were
disgusting and completely inappropriate for a place where people eat food.
I felt like the display’s purpose was to
superficially label abortion as wrong
by portraying it as gross. I think the
underlying mechanics of the morality
of abortions is much more complex
than simply, it looks gross.”
Graduate student Miguel Mendez, one of the two Students for Life
members who filed the lawsuit against
UMBC, defended the GAP posters,
explaining that the display not only
included photos of aborted fetuses,
but also pointed out similarities in
patterns of thinking used to defend
genocide and those used as justification for abortion. Mendez gave the
following example, “The Klu Klux
Klan argued that blacks were not
men, those who support abortions
argue that four-month-old fetuses are
not human. This negation of humanity led and currently leads to similar
ends, the deaths of human beings.
Our message is deeper than ‘gross pictures.’ We want the campus to know
that what we’re showing is reality. It’s
hard to look at, but its real. This is
happening.”
The Solidarity Coalition, a group
founded upon radical leftist philosophy and practice, has also hosted
campus protests including a five day
anti-war fast. SoCo president, junior
Sarah Solomon, spoke about the fast,
“Obviously, we did not expect that
if a few anarchists at UMBC gave up
food for five days the war would end.”
Nevertheless, Solomon found the fast
meaningful. “We engaged hundreds
of students around campus who approached us during the week to discuss the war, who attended the lectures, and who committed to giving
up one meal here and there in solidarity with us. We even spotted students
everywhere wearing black armbands
to show their support!”
SoCo’s most recent campus protest
efforts fell through after unsuccessful
negotiations with university administrators. The group had planned to
protest the university’s application for
a full scale ROTC program at UMBC’s
spring 2008 graduation ceremony.
Controversy first erupted when the
Department of Defense offered UMBC
the opportunity to apply for funding
toward a full ROTC program. Antiwar students and representatives from
the campus LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community were
especially opposed to any such filing.
SoCo had hoped to show support to
these groups via protest but was deterred by a spokesperson for President
Hrabowski.
Paula McCusker, a member of SGA’s
Department of Student Advocacy,
explained the outcome of the Solidarity Coalition’s plans, “Aside from
the abortion display, the only recent
protest I’m aware of was planned by
the Solidarity Coalition. It never happened. Mark Terranova negotiated the
group down.” She continued, “Stu-
dents here are only encouraged to
express themselves in very framed,
sterile ways.”
Despite the few activist displays
across campus, UMBC senior Stephen
Thompson, vice president of SoCo,
believes that student activism is on the
increase. “During the Vietnam War,
it took years before major anti-war
demonstrations occurred. Contrast
this with what happened in response
to the Iraq War – there were still
enormous protests all over the world
from the very beginning of the war.”
Thompson cited the SoCo’s recent
efforts to persuade UMBC’s administration to affiliate with the Worker
Rights Consortium as evidence that
more activism is going on at UMBC
than students are aware of.
Laskin disagreed, “I don’t think
on-campus protests work here because most of the student population
is indifferent to everything that isn’t
academic. I believe this indifference is
a part of the UMBC culture.” He continued, “Students don’t think there is
anything to do on campus, so there
never are people to stick around and
get involved. Also, because we have
this reputation as a quiet, low-key,
academic school; that’s the type of
student who is attracted to and eventually chooses to attend UMBC. This
student is not your average protestor.”
Comments can be sent to
tandrea1@umbc.edu.
What is your least favorite part about this time of the semester?
32% The heavy load of pre-exam schoolwork
28% The school year is coming to an end,
and I’m already beginning to miss UMBC
26% That exams are approaching
14% The rain
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
News
Coming Soon:
Lucky’s
www.luckyssportstheatre.com
Summer Concert Series
Fridays & Saturdays 7 – 9 pm
Beginning May 22nd with Donegal X-Press
2009 Schedule Includes Performances by:
Higher Hands 5/29
Can’t Hang 6/12
Pie Boys Flat 7/3
Fools & Horses 8/22
Visit www.theavenueatwhitemarsh.com for a complete concert schedule.
ABNET SHIFERAW— TRW
> UMBC student Mainia Overby donated 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love, a charity organization which makes wigs for children suffering from long-term medical hair loss. Locks of Love
hosted a donation drive last Wednesday in the Commons.
SUMMER SESSION 2009
-AXIMIZE¬YOUR¬TIME¬AND¬YOUR¬OPTIONS¬/NLINE¬AND¬HYBRID¬
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¬WEEK¬¬¬¬¬-AY¬¬n¬*ULY¬
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&IND¬OUT¬MORE
UMBCEDUSUMMER
SUMMER UMBCEDU
¬
A Program of Continuing and Professional Studies
A property of Federal Realty Investment Trust Federalrealty.com NYSE: FRT
9
10
opinion@retrieverweekly.com
STAFF EDITORIAL
staff
Saying goodbye to college is difficult
EDITORS
Editor-in-Chief
Gaby Arevalo
410.455.1262
Managing Editor
Kate Nunley
410.455.1263
NEWS
Editor
Andrea Thomson
Assistant Editor
Alethea Paul
OPINION
Editor
Greg Dewey
Assistant Editor
Anne Verghese
ARTS
Editor
Paul-William de Silva
Assistant Editor
Anissa Elmerraji
SPORTS
Editor
Donald Daniels
Assistant Editor
Corey Johns
PHOTOGRAPHY
410.455.1018
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TECHNOLOGY
> Once upon a time, there was grass on Erickson field.
GREG DEWEY — TRW
Every year UMBC graduates a class of
seniors who have put their fingerprints
on the school for four years. The same
emotions are within each of the graduates, “Will I have a job,?” “How do I
deserve this?,” and “Where has the time
gone?” At orientation as a freshman you
see seniors who are confident and full
of knowledge and you hope that one
day you can also have that confidence
of purpose. By the time you are a senior
you see this as the myth it is. College
teaches you what you don’t know. If
someone graduates and they think they
have it all together than they are in for a
nasty surprise.
There have been graduating classes
from UMBC for years and each has its
own impression of the school and the
people there. However, things are always changing. The people you know
will change as each class walks across
the stage.
At the end it is only the memories
that you have made and the friends that
you keep that will define what your
time at UMBC has been. In 10 years it
won’t be a lab at 8 a.m. or a 25-page paper that you will think about when you
remember college, it will be the amazing friends that you did amazing things
with. And that is what matters.
Students only now realize the consequences
of voting in favor of Referendum A
Elizabeth Kudirka
STAFF WRITER
The recent SGA election was probably
the only time students have ever actually expressed that they were willing to
spend more money on something. Referendum A, which proposed an annual
$10 increase in the Student Activities Fee
for the next six years was supported by
nearly 70 percent of the students who
voted. It was recently announced that
students could expect fees to increase to
$104 for the upcoming academic year.
Over the years, I’ve sat around and
watched my fees steadily increase, but
the one fee that I’ve recuperated every
year in the form of food and t-shirts
has remained the same since I came to
UMBC. But now I sit around and watch
people whine and complain about the
fee increase like Referendum A, which
was hidden in Area 51 until the last minute, and then UMBC slipped that extra
ten bucks into our fees for next year hoping that if they dangled enough pizza and
silk-screened T-shirts in front of us, we
wouldn’t notice. Well, I hate to be the
bearer of reality, but the majority of the
people that actually care enough about
the campus to vote in the SGA election
thought that an extra $10 each year
wasn’t a bad idea.
I find it funny that now that the increase has occurred, there are a number
of people out there that are finally voicing their opinion and telling us they are
really opposed to the increase. They go
COURTESY OF WWW.TOBEDEFINED.COM
> At least my money is going to a good place. Wait...you mean I am
paying for my education and Jay Greene’s?
> see REFERENDUM A [12]
410.455.3901
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Greg Fiumara
Online Editor
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Dan Ingram
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BUSINESS
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Faculty Adviser
Christopher Corbett
DESIGN
Carly Wilkins
The Retriever Weekly welcomes your comments. Letters to the editor must be submitted before 5 p.m. Friday via e-mail to eic@retrieverweekly.com or delivered to The Retriever Weekly office, UC 214. Please limit letters to 300 words and include your full name, year and
major. The Retriever Weeky retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.
Dear Editor,
I want to thank The Retriever Weekly, and reporter Ryan Wiggins, for
his April 7 article “Students who use Blackboard often are more likely
to do well in their classes.” However, given the time and attention Ryan
gave this piece, I was dismayed by the headline which totally contradicted my last quote:
“I tend to say Blackboard is an indicator—not a cause—of student
success,” said Fritz. “We just haven’t done enough analysis to say otherwise. We’re interested in seeing how good students use Blackboard, not
how Blackboard makes good students. There is a big difference.”
I realize it is tempting to want to think that technology “causes” something (good or bad), but more likely I think technology facilitates what
people do on their own. In this case, that may be teaching well or learn-
ing well. That’s good enough for me.
Also, just to clarify one statement presented as fact: I did not say that D
and F students in SCI100 used Blackboard 35 percent less than students
earning a C or above. I did say this is the case in 61 courses over a two
year period, as determined by final grade distribution reports voluntarily
generated by faculty (see http://www.umbc.edu/oit/newmedia/blackboard/
stats/gradedist-courses/).
Again, thanks for the time and interest in what we’re doing to understand how good students use Blackboard.
Sincerely,
John Fritz
Asst. VP, Instructional Technology & New Media
Division of Information Technology
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Retriever Weekly staff editorials reflect the views of the editorial board; signed columns and advertisements represent the opinions of the individual writers and
advertisers, respectively, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Retriever Weekly or the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The Retriever Weekly publishes
weekly on Tuesdays during the regular school year. Editors can be reached at (410) 455-1260 during normal business hours or at University Center 214; 1000
Hilltop Circle; UMBC; Baltimore, MD 21250. The Retriever Weekly is an equal opportunity employer.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
oPINION
11
Around the country, students try to be the change
they want to see in the world through protests
Courtney Ring
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
If many people view the 1960s
peace riots as iconic of student protest
movements, recent nationwide campus
unrest seems to be raising the specter
of those boisterous days. Beyond the
specific issues addressed by recent
demonstrations though, these protests
raise some interesting questions about
the methods of and reasons for protesting.
The two most notable of the recent
protests took place at the New School
in New York and the University of
North Carolina. In New York, students
forcibly occupied a school building and
called for the university president’s resignation. Their greatest quibble seems
to be with the financial transparency of
the university—the students don’t like
all the investments that the president
has made with tuition money, and feel
shut out of the financial process. At the
University of North Carolina, students
disrupted an event hosted by a student
group that featured former United
States Representative Tom Tancredo, an
outspoken opponent of illegal immigration. Both protests raise some problems
with student picketing in general.
First of all, is it possible that students
protest too much? If you type the term
“student protests” into the Google News
search engine, it will give you several
thousand results from all over the world.
As effective as student protesting can
be, are all these protests really necessary? For instance, in France, students
in the country’s public university system finally ended a three-month strike
because no one could really remember
why they walked out in the first place.
In the United States, students are rallying against everything from budget cuts
to lack of tenure for favorite professors.
The ability to gather to express our
opinions is a precious right, which is
perhaps why we should stop and think
a little more carefully about what we’re
taking a stand for (or against). Why
risk blunting such a powerful tool of
expression through overuse?
Second, are students perhaps too
quick to take to the picket line? By
turning first to a demonstration, students could miss opportunities to
work within the system to improve it,
rather than destroying it and potentially throwing the baby out with the
bathwater. In the coverage of the New
School protests, for instance, articles
highlighted both the significant improvements made to the university by
Quotes
president Bob Kerrey, and his history of
disagreement with the faculty. Students
said they felt excluded from financial
decision-making, but nowhere did the
articles mention steps that students and
faculty had taken to try and resolve the
tension. Are students perhaps missing the opportunity to retain a strong
leader by refusing to work with him or
her? A rally can be a great way to draw
attention to problems, but there needs
to be a constructive effort to avoid conflict before students march.
Finally, there seems to be a weird
mindset that, somehow, unruliness
in the name of “protest” is legitimate.
Students in New York forcibly wrestled
control of the building from a security
guard and a custodian, one of whom
was hospitalized due to injuries. In
North Carolina, students shattered a
window, ending a meeting sponsored
(and paid for) by another group—an
event that they were not forced to attend. Interestingly, the North Carolina
protesters claim that, when campus
security forced them to leave, their free
speech rights were violated—never
mind the fact that Mr. Tancredo left
without speaking due to the threatening atmosphere. In the end, the protesters’ message was heard, and Mr.
Tancredo’s was not.
from the
COURTESY OF WWW.ANTIAUTHORITARIAN.NET
> He heard that protests were a great way to meet women... he was wrong.
Specifics aside, this kind of unruliness seems counterproductive at best.
Thinking back to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, part of the power of
Martin Luther King’s marches was their
orderliness and peacefulness. They
were persuasive because they showed
innocent civilians receiving brutal
treatment from the establishment, thus
exposing the hypocrisy of those who
denied them equal treatment. In the recent student protests, it’s more difficult
to sympathize with this aggressive style
of dissent. Is sending someone to the
hospital or intimidating a speaker a legitimate use of the liberty of expressing
our opinions?
I think not.
Student protests have proven an
effective method in the past to effect
needed change. Let’s not lose that tool
through frivolous demonstrations.
Comments can be sent to
scrambledscribblings@gmail.com.
Quad
What are your plans for summer break?
“Take a summer
class, go on vacation
with family, and
PDL soccer in my
homestate of North
Carolina.”
Michael Gutowski
Financial Economics
Sophomore, 20
“Summer classes
here and going
on mini vacations
to the beach and
amusement parks.”
Brittany Wharton
Biology
Freshman, 19
Ashlee Adams
Jonovan Sanders
PHOTOGRAPHER: PATRICIA DAVILA
Biology
Junior, 20
“I am taking two
summer classes, a
GRE prep class, and
I’m going to
Switzerland!”
“I am taking an
MCAT prep class
and living in
Ocean City every
weekend.”
Computer Science
Freshman, 19
“Work and have fun
with friends—kind of
just do things as they
come up.”
Amanda Fernandez
Biology / Psychology
Junior, 21
oPINION
12
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
Banks gather their forces to fight back
against Obama’s higher education plan
COURTESY OF WASHINGTONINDEPENDENT.COM
> President Obama demontrating his beer pong form. The president is often
seem playing pong with Asher Roth... both men could be heard screaming,
“I love college.”
Anne Verghese
EDITORIAL STAFF
During his campaign in the fall of
2008, President Obama made two
promises to the American people: to
make college more affordable for all
students and to remove lobbyist influence and wasteful spending from
Washington. He addresses both
these promises in his new plan to
invest in education.
Receiving a college education has
now become more important than
it has ever been in the past. Today,
half of the fastest growing job industries in the United States require
their applicants to have at least a
Bachelor’s degree to be even considered for a job position. And those
who do not have a college degree
are almost guaranteed that they will
be unemployed, especially in our
current economic situation.
These are difficult times for students as well as their families all
over America as we are struggling
to keep up with the ever increasing
cost of higher education. Although
Maryland has instituted a tuition
freeze for in-state students, around
the country the cost of tuition at private colleges has more than doubled
, and at private universities, it has
nearly tripled. Families can barely
keep up with the increasing tuition
costs because, on average, the cost
of tuition has grown ten times faster
than a typical family’s income.
In order to address this crisis,
President Obama has made col-
lege affordability and accessibility
a priority for his administration.
By increasing the availability of
Pell Grants and making it possible
for working families to be eligible
for a $2,500 tax credit, college has
become more affordable for 7 million students around the country.
Currently, in order to pay for high
tuition prices, students have had
the option of taking out a loan. One
type of loan has been the Direct
Loan, which allows money to go directly from the federal government
to students.
The other type of loan usually used
by students is the Federal Family
Education Loan (FFEL), which goes
through lenders. Under the FFEL
program lenders get a large subsidy
from the government, which wastes
approximately $5 billion a year of
taxpayer money. In order to eliminate this wastage, President Obama
has taken the initiative to end the
FFEL program and to direct this
money into the Direct Loan program. The Obama administration
has determined that these initiatives
will save 4.9 million families $9 billion.
Earlier this year, President Obama
stated his goal before a joint session
of Congress that by 2020 the United
States will have the highest college
graduation rate in the world. He believes the first step to accomplishing this goal is to create savings by
changing the way loans are offered
and given to students.
Over the next decade, the government can save tens of billions
of dollars simply by eliminating
Vote or Weep
> from REFERENDUM A [10]
the FFEL program and cutting out
banks as middlemen. The money
that is saved can instead be invested
in expanding Pell Grants, offering
tuition tax credits, and launching
college completion programs for
any student who needs it.
However, it is unlikely that lenders, who make large profits from
our current lending system, will go
down without a fight. Already, bankers and lenders who are completely
opposed to President Obama’s initiative are hiring lobbyists as they strategically plan to fight back against
the Obama administration.
Responsible investments will help
to stop the rising unemployment in
the U.S. and investing in education
is like investing in America.
President Obama also plans to
reform the Pell Grant system by
implementing a fixed rate. Right
now the Pell Grant does not have a
fixed rate and, as a result, is vulnerable to the whims and fancies of the
market. This, more often than not,
hurts working, middle class families
who cannot receive the money they
need. By having a fixed rate, students can rest assured that they will
be able to receive the money they
need every year.
President Obama’s proposals are
just the beginning in this fight to
make higher education affordable
so that students can receive the education they need to move ahead and
compete in today’s global economy.
on all the different UMBC blogs and talk
about how they can’t believe that we
were stupid enough to give the SGA extra money to carry out ideas like keeping
the library open late during finals. My
goodness people, what do you think we
do at this school? Surely we don’t study
at UMBC, it being an Honors University
and all. No, there are far too many idiotic
events for us to go and waste our time at
with all of the other brain-dead shallow
people that go to this institution.
Look, if you opposed the increase you
should have said so before the elections
took place. I’ve always found a proactive approach to be the most successful
way to handle situations like this. Your
arguments now are like milk that’s been
sitting out for a few days: stagnant, sour,
and all kinds of bad.
Instead of whining about Referendum A, students should be looking into
what their fees go to exactly. According
to SGA, fees are at about $2,492 for the
year now. That’s a lot of money that we
blindly hand over and ask no questions
about. I remember reading David Hoffman’s blog called Co-Create UMBC last
semester and discovering that my Athletics Fee was used to cover athletic scholarships. One day in the very distant future,
after I’ve graduated, I’m going to look for
the return from all of the money I spent
on my education. I’m going to look for
that athlete whose tuition I’m paying and
I’m going to expect to see something for
all of the money I poured into them. I
don’t care if my return comes to me in
the form of a signed baseball I can sell on
eBay or a puppy, I just want a return—
I’m paying for your education.
Comments can be sent
to averg1@umbc.edu.
Comments can be sent to
e.kudirka@gmail.com.
Major league baseball’s standards for fairness turn out to be quite
hypocritical when it comes to testing for performance enhancers
COURTESY OF PGROUNDUP.WORDPRESS.COM
> Solution to Manny’s problems = Delorean + Flux capacitor + 1.21 gigawatts
at 88 mph.
Robert Lubaszewski
EDITORIAL STAFF
“It’s a dark day for baseball in a lot
of ways,” stated Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti in regards to star player
Manny Ramirez’s recent trouble with Major League Baseball (MLB). Ramirez tested positive for HCG, a substance banned
by MLB in 2008. The drug increases
testosterone and has previously been
connected with known steroid users.
Being a first time offender, Ramirez
was suspended 50 games (a second positive test warrants a 100 game suspension
and a third results in a lifetime ban) for
breaking the league’s substance abuse
policy. Ramirez blames the positive test
on medication prescribed to him by his
personal physician for a “personal medical reason.”
This was just the most recent incident
in MLB’s ongoing battle against steroids
and other performance enhancers. Yet,
MLB only started penalty-testing seriously for performance enhancers in
2004 – long after steroids had become
interwoven in the sport of baseball.
Of those players suspended under
the new drug policy, Manny Ramirez is
easily the most recognizable name. Yet,
admitted steroids users such as Jason
Giambi and Alex Rodriguez have never
been suspended for their illegal drug use.
With inconsistent policies like these, it
is no wonder players continue to push
the limits of MLB. Until the league is
consistent with its rulings, performance
enhancers will continue to remain prevalent in the game today.
However, what actually constitutes
a performance enhancer? Hall of Fame
pitcher and former Advil spokesman,
Nolan Ryan, often spoke about how the
pain killer would alleviate the soreness in
his throwing arm enough that he could
pitch from night to night. Doesn’t this
constitute a performance enhancing
drug? Without the Advil, would Ryan
have been able to sustain his blister-
ing 100 mph fastball deep into his 27
year career? Yet, no one ever views this
as cheating, but if Ryan were to have
taken steroids to lengthen his career, the
country would be in an uproar. What
makes one drug more acceptable than
the other?
Steroids have never helped a hitter track a 90 mph fastball. Increased
strength does not help a batter make
contact with the ball. Steroids do not
enhance a baseball player’s skills, just his
muscles.
In fact, there are players currently in
the major leagues who have had performance enhancing surgery that directly
affects the game of baseball, even more
so than steroids. Laser eye surgery has
become the newest trend for batters in
their quest to gain that little something
extra over the pitcher. Even players with
20/20 vision have opted to have the
procedure, which can actually increase
a person’s sight to better than perfect.
With increased vision, batters can see
the ball clearer and sooner than ever before (an obvious advantage for a hitter).
These kinds of surgeries can increase a
player’s chances of getting a hit far more
than steroids ever could.
Yet, MLB sees nothing wrong with this
form of personal enhancement. Why are
performance enhancing surgeries more
respectable than performance enhancing
drugs? Both are simply ways for a player
to gain the edge over his opponent.
However, no matter what MLB tests
for, there will always be those players
who find new ways of cheating. There
will always be new drugs, new ways of
beating the drug tests, and new surgeries
to enhance performance. MLB allowed
the situation to get to where it is today,
and maybe it is simply too late to correct
their mistake now.
Even the Queen of England’s racehorse
recently tested positive for performance
enhancing drugs. They are everywhere.
Steroids and other performance enhancers have slowly become a part of today’s
society, and do not appear to be going
away any time soon. Maybe it is simply
time to legalize performance enhancing
drugs and get back to the “purity” of the
game, when players just played and fans
just watched and rooted for their favorite teams. Weren’t we all happier when
we lived in ignorance and were watching our heroes hitting 50, 60 or even 70
homeruns a year?
Comments can be sent to
lubasze1@umbc.edu.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
oPINION
13
Pakistan’s future appears bleak without immediate
intervention even at the cost of hurting its national ego
COURTESY OF BCBOYD.WORDPRESS.COM
> He is just glad he’s not Canadian... now there’s a country with nothing going for it. You say Canadian Bacon... I say
Ham.
Saira Khan
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The other day a friend of mine called
me a traitor because I told him that the
only way that the situation in Pakistan
could improve is through western intervention. He proceeded to get angry and
tell me I had been in America for far too
long and had lost my “Pakistani pride,”
as he put it. I can’t say I was surprised
by his reaction. It does, however, baffle
me to see that, even with the current sit-
uation in Pakistan, people still consider
foreign intervention as a major blow to
their national ego.
Pakistan has been facing the “terrorist” threat ever since 9/11. While under
Musharraf, the area that Al-Qaeda and
other terrorist organizations had occupied was exponentionally less than what
it is now, their presence was always clear
and prominent. In fact, two days after
I landed in Karachi in December 2007,
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and the
streets of Karachi were literally on fire.
The experience was not only frightening but it brought the terrorist threat
to everyone’s doorstep and forced us to
acknowledge that no one is safe.
Over the past few months the terrorist situation in Pakistan has immensely
deteriorated. Most rural and tribal
Northern regions are now occupied by
terrorist groups such as the Tehreek-eNafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic
Law) as well as the area of Swat, which
not only used to be quite the vacation
spot, but also is not too far off from the
capital, Islamabad.
The terrorist organization that is
occupying the land is committing
hundreds of crimes and torturing the
people. Education for females has been
banned and many schools are being
bombed; schools that took time, effort,
and a lot of campaigning to build.
By attempting to appease the
Taliban, Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-eMohammadi, and other terrorist organizations are declaring their rule legal,
and Asif Zardari, the current president
of Pakistan, is negotiating with them
and therefore empowering them. This
gives the terrorists the impression that
Pakistani military and the government
would much rather establish peace and
allow them to operate rather than tell
them that their rule and their ideas are
ludicrous and will not be tolerated.
While a battle between terrorists
and the military takes place in the rural
areas, which occasionally lapses into
the urban cities, it is the violent fight
between political groups that is actually destroying the cities. Ethnic and
political rivalries have been taken to the
streets where if an unsuspecting civilian
resembles a certain ethnicity, they could
possibly get killed simply because of
what they are and how they look.
People such as Asif Zardari, the Taliban, and other politicians are a plague
upon Pakistan. I wonder what the
people who advocated for Musharraf’s
removal are thinking now, considering that the country has fallen into a
massive state of turmoil and is facing a
possible take-over by terrorists. Since
Pakistan is a nuclear power, Western
countries would probably not allow it
to get to the point where the threat of
a fundamentalist take-over would become imminent. Unfortunately, before
there is any western intervention, the
people of Pakistan have to suffer to the
point where the fundamentalists would
dominantly be creating havoc in the cities.
It breaks my heart to see that the
country that I once called home and the
place where my family still resides has
fallen into the hands of power-hungry,
greedy, bloodthirsty politicians and
leaders who are allowing more of the
country to fall into the hands of powerhungry, greedy, bloodthirsty fundamentalists. It saddens me even more that the
people who can truly attempt, at least,
to make a difference, (the rich educated
upper-class) regard physical (not monetary, of course) foreign intervention
as something only a traitor would consider. The next few years will determine
whether Pakistan will come out of this
war whole or destroyed and it is up to
the people who can make a difference to
open their eyes and see the actual danger that exists.
Comments can be sent to
saira1@umbc.edu.
USE IT OR LOSE IT!
The Campus Dining Hall
Open Monday - Sunday
23.5 Hours
FLEX SPECIAL
Buy One Pizza Get One FREE
(Buy any pizza get one equal or lesser value free.)
Not applicable with any other special.
Expires May 20, 2009
Buy Any Two Pizzas Get
6 - 20 oz Beverages FREE
(20 oz Soda or Water)
Not applicable with any other special.
Expires May 20, 2009
Great Deal on Cases!
Dasani
24 Pack $19.99
Dasani Essence
12 Pack $20.99
Coca-Cola
24 Pack $22.99
PowerAde
24 Pack $29.99
(Special case prices only apply to flex purchases)
Check your FLEX balance at
any dining service cashier stand.
Last Day
May 20th
UMBC DINING
www.dineoncampus.com/UMBC
14
Arts
EntertaInment
arts@retrieverweekly.com
ACSAH JOSEPH — TRW
> The UMBC Percussion Ensemble put on a stimulating performance last Thursday in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. Their selections ranged from works by John Cage to Carlos Chavez.
Art Attack stretches campus’ artistic boundaries
Katrina Cohen
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Academic Row became an enlivened artists’ stage Wednesday when
student Linehan Artist Scholars held a
spontaneous Art Attack event. Chalk
designers, photographers, musicians,
performance artists and more lined
the walkway with color, sound and
activity during free hour.
Below, event organizer Professor
Alan Kreizenbeck and student participants David Brasington and Franki
Trout explain their Art Attack ideas
and experiences.
Professor Alan Kreizenbeck, Chair
of the Department of Theatre and
Linehan Artist Scholar Program Director, discusses why he organizes Art
Attack: “I originated the idea because
I wanted to raise awareness of art on
campus, but in a way that took the art
to the campus rather than asking the
campus to come to the art. I believe
that we are constantly surrounded by
art, but often don’t know how to look
for or at it. I also wanted to stretch the
boundaries of what is considered art,
so that viewers would be intrigued
and interested. I also wanted to eliminate, as much as possible, the spatial
distance between artist and viewer;
many Art Attack performances required audience participation, always
a good thing. Art Attack, which I organize, happens once a year, usually
late spring, unannounced.”
David Brasington, freshman Art Attack performer, describes his participatory project: “I lay down in front of
the UC with two white poster boards
on the ground next to me. I had
Keilyn, a friend, act as my “news paper
boy” of sorts and attract people over
to me, asking them to look at me and
then write what ever they think on the
posters next to me. It could have been
anything. What they thought of me;
my emotions, my looks, my lifestyle.
Or how it made them feel, anything.
The trick is, they can be as candid
as they want because I can’t see the
ground next to me, but they still have
to see me face to face and be honest.
The message for me was being honest
and accepting the positives along with
the negatives about yourself, while for
others it was a rare opportunity to be
completely honest with someone else.
A complete stranger at that.
“I performed for about an hour and
had many people come over and write
on my posters. I listen to giggles and
discussions about the project; people
wondered whether I was sleeping,
drunk, dead, or just crazy, but kept
still and silent the entire time. I saw
a few people I knew. Dr. Hrabowski
wrote on the posters! I think people
were really attracted to the project.
If they didn’t enjoy it, I can at least
say that I enjoyed it -- every minute
of it.”
Franki Trout, freshman Art Attack
participant, shares her beach-inspired
dance performance: “My two friends
(Josh Kemper and Jasmynn Speight)
and I did a dance improvisation in the
grassy area in front of the chemistry
building. We set up the area like a
beach with two beach chairs, an umbrella, a boogie board and a whole
bunch of towels stretched out over the
ground. We wore our bathing suits
and sunglasses, pretending like we
were enjoying a nice day on the beach
even though it was chilly and slightly
overcast. We danced with each other
and individually throughout the hour,
using all of the props we had brought
that made up our scene. At one point
we even took the boogie board and ran
down the concrete walkway to play in
a puddle we called the ocean. When
we got tired, we simply stretched out
on a towel or beach chair and “sun
bathed” before one of us decided it
was time to start dancing again.
“I felt the response of the audience
couldn’t have been any better. We
wanted people to see us and wonder
what in the world we were doing. I
think we succeeded in looking really
out of place and drawing attention because we were having so much fun. A
couple people asked us, ‘Is this art?’ to
which we replied, ‘It’s the beach!’ I had
such a good time dancing with Josh
and Jasmynn. The hour flew by and
I walked away from the event feeling
hot and little fatigued, which made
me feel like I really had just spent the
morning on the beach! I thought the
whole event was a fantastic idea and
a great way to draw attention to the
arts, which are generally not present-
ed in this context. I am really looking
forward to being a part of Art Attack
again next year!”
Comments can be sent
to katco1@umbc.edu
COURTESY FACEBOOK.COM
> Linehan Scholars put on a beach inspired dance performance.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
ARTS
15
St. Vincent weaves
Disney-like nightmare
Zak Bratcher
RETRIEVER STAFF
At the start of her song “The Bed,”
three-quarters of the way through her
new album, Actor, Annie Clark sings
“We’re sleeping underneath the bed/
To scare the monsters out/With our
dear daddy’s Smith and Wesson/We’ve
got to teach them all a lesson.” Clark,
the musician also known as St. Vincent, sings with soft maternal care, as
though she was soothing her toddler
to sleep with a lullaby. The lyrics, of
course, signify a much darker mood,
telling of a child’s bedtime fear with
an adult’s cynical understanding of
justice. The accompaniment follows
the mood. Strings and flutes are airy
and surreal; tympani are steady and
brooding. The combined effect is
nightmarish.
And so here is St. Vincent’s newest record, Actor. Clark’s sophomore
effort, released last week, is like a
Disney score turned ominous. The
instrumentation is at times orchestral, proper and whimsical; at others
it is guitar driven, distorted and menacing. In front of it all stands Clark’s
beautiful voice, a mother’s throughand-through: steady, serious, caring,
and gentle. Her lyrics are measured
and simple, but they tend to represent
anxiety and distress. We are presented
with an intriguing juxtaposition. Actor thrusts naivety into wickedness,
and the result is gorgeous.
“The Strangers,” the opening
track of the album, is driven by a
fast, steady bass beat and soft, drifting woodwinds. Clark’s voice is deceptively angelic as she reaches the
repeated line “Paint the black hole
blacker/Paint the black hole blacker.”
The lyrics express a literal and figurative plunge into darkness, as though
the singer was hiding a desperate, inescapable dissatisfaction with something. Ultimately, the gentleness of
the tune morphs into a reverb-y guitar and a heavy snare, expressing the
emotions that Clark didn’t.
A shift from Disney-esque orchestral instrumentation to weighty,
mechanized guitars is one pattern that
repeats itself all through St. Vincent’s
Actor. Each time it seems as if Clark
would rather the accompaniments
carry the songs’ tension. In “Black
Rainbow,” for instance, strings, horns,
and winds provide a pretty backdrop
for Clark’s vocals. An ill-omened, distorted bass beat develops steadily as
Clark sings “Bird outside the kitchen
fighting his reflection/What’s he
gonna win when he wins?” The composition grows ever louder, a restless
wife’s desperate and panic-ridden climax, until the song mercifully ends.
This expression of stretched emotion
is almost perfectly executed throughout the album’s eleven tracks.
Actor’s gem, though, is “Laughing with a Mouth Full of Blood.”
(The song title alone probably best
typifies the wonderful creepiness of
this record.) A lovely guitar picking
opening is overshadowed by unsettling, scale-climbing strings until the
down beat drops the tension, giving
way to a catchy drum beat, bass, and
vocal line. Clark sings “All of my old
friends aren’t so friendly/All of my old
haunts are now all haunting me” as
the lyrics uncomfortably dance with
the topic of neighborly judgment
and disappointment. Again, though,
Clark’s voice never wavers past sweet
and motherly. She swallows the discontentment.
Perhaps that is the meaning behind the album title. An actor must
be willing and able to climb into the
role’s skin, experience and feel what
the role has, understand the role’s
Motivations-with-a-capital-M. Only
then can an accurate and compelling
performance be delivered. That’s exactly what Clark has done. She has
conveyed intricate and subtle feelings
of unhappiness and frustration perfectly. Her music is catchy and complex. Actor may not be the best album
of the year thus far, but it deserves a
spot close to the top.
Comments can be sent to
zbratch1@gmail.com.
COURTESY WWW.BILLIONS.COM
> St. Vincent’s sophomore effort combines Clark’s delicate voice with dark
lyrics. Catch her as she performs in D.C. later this month.
COURTESY TANIKA HALL — TRW
> The Department of Dance held its annual Spring Dance Concert this past week in the UMBC Theater and featured
both contemporary and traditional pieces.
Contemporary influences
color Spring Dance Showcase
Becky Hunter
STAFF WRITER
The well-worn Marley floor on
UMBC’s theatre stage was put to good
use last weekend for the Spring Dance
Showcase put on by the Dance Department. The show, which ran Thursday,
Friday and Saturday nights, brought
out the best of the best of UMBC’s
dancers, many of whom have sizable
talent.
The first number was a contemporary piece done to The Postal Service’s
“This Place is a Prison.” The dancers
were dressed all in black, which was
very effective in the somber, yet powerful performance. All of the movements were very sharp and in sync,
however the overall feel of the dance
was somewhat dreamy.
The second number was a contemporary partner piece performed by
Becky Dyson and Josh Barnard, and
was broken up into two sections. The
intent of the routine was a little unclear, though it definitely had a “different stages of a relationship” feel.
The first part, performed to a kicky
bluegrass-ish song, was full of jumps
and fluid lifts. It had an almost giddy
quality to it, and was very sweet and
fun to watch. The second part was
quite different. A heartbreaking duet
by the band Stars set the tone for a
deeper, almost tragic number. The
dancers played their parts well, letting
their performance be fully overcome
with emotion.
The third piece was another contemporary piece; however, it had a
rather primitive, tribal quality to it.
The instrumental song used really enhanced the movements of the dancers,
which were very precise, yet smooth.
The next dance was, you guessed
it, another contemporary piece. The
dance was inspired by medieval
texts on religious celebrations and
dances. The number took place in
several parts. Some of them had a bal-
letic feeling while others were almost
experimental. The music reeked of
Christianity, with Gregorian chant
and secular-sounding instrumentals
providing the backdrop for the long,
slightly epic piece. It was very easy to
tell that the choreography was influenced by literature, however, not in
the sense that it told a concrete story. It
was more in the emotion it conveyed:
mythical with a touch of ethereal.
The fifth piece in the program was
quite the delight after several heavy
modern dances. The funky jazz number was performed to a remixed variation of Prince’s “1999,” and definitely
brought a sense of fun and silliness to
the evening which was missing in previous numbers.
The final piece before intermission
was a large African number called
“Kpanlogo;” which is all the rage in
Ghana. Live drummers and singers hit the stage with about a couple
dozen UMBC students dressed in colorfully printed costumes. The number
was very festive and lively, captivating
the audience with its energetic movements and live musicians, which really made the performance. Toward
the end of the piece, dancers pulled
audience members onstage, bridging
the gap that separates the performers
from those watching them.
After intermission, the Improv Class
performed a rather interesting piece,
which was by far the most risky and
experimental of the night. The dancers
worked well with one another, drawing inspiration from those who were
moving around them. For the most
part, the performance was smooth,
though it did have its moments.
The dance that followed was a
beautiful modern number, which
was partly performed to a piece by
spoken word artist Victor Arumemi,
who joined the dancers onstage. The
performance was very soulful and
definitely had a personal element. The
rest of the dance was performed to
“His Eye is on the Sparrow” by Rachel
Gaskill and Elani Odeyale and “No
Woman No Cry” By Bob Marley. The
dancers, clad in sunny yellow dresses,
obviously poured their emotions
into this piece. Every movement had
meaning behind it, and the dancers
really did their part to share that with
the audience.
The next piece was a commanding
contemporary number performed to
Broken Social Scene’s “Anthems for
a Seventeen Year Old.” The dancers’ movements were captivating,
heartbreaking, frantic and big. They
definitely gave the audience insight
into the intent of the piece, which is
really what contemporary dance is all
about.
The number that followed was a
solo performed and choreographed
by Holly Googe. The contemporary
piece was very powerful, and Googe
definitely has what it takes to command the stage on her own. Her dancing was sharp and she had very good
technique. The performance was very
strong and she really showed off her
great talent.
The final piece was composed of
many different parts, all of which
evoked a different reaction. Some parts
were light, while others were a little
heavier. There were some really good
lifts and partner work in this dance,
which created a nice variation in the
texture of the performance. The musical arrangement was very fitting for
the piece; it conveyed all of the moods
the piece had to offer, most notably
a mildly seductive accordion section
during some of the partner work.
Overall, the night was a great success. All feet were turned out and all
toes were pointed, making for a very
clean, impressive performance UMBC’s Dance Department can be proud
of.
Comments can be sent to
rhunter2@umbc.edu.
16
ARTS
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
Music brings new meaning to UMBC underground:
University music scene requires a revival
Julie Ouedraogo
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
We’ve heard it all before, the radio
is crap. Rap on the radio is music
made for commercial purposes, rock
music is hard to distinguish from
simply loud noise and pop is…
well, that’s always sucked. However,
mainstream music hardly rules what
we listen to anymore. More and more
people are turning off their radios
and looking for music through other
means; through this, underground
music is born.
Underground music is raw, noncommercial and is made by you,
your friends or that guy down the
street. It’s coming out of college kids’
basements, blasting out of grimy
bars and singing in coffee shops. In
essence it is something original that
doesn’t have some major label dictating its sound. Without dispute,
Baltimore has an underground scene
unparalleled to other cities. Rostam
Williams, head of WMBC radio station, calls it “pop on crack mixed
with noise.” With all this influence,
where does UMBC’s music scene
fall? Some say nowhere, some say
it’s somewhere lost in translation,
and others simply just don’t care to
find out.
There are some very talented acts
emerging from UMBC but the audience that supports UMBC’s music
scene is often much like our overall
sense of school community: weak.
“The Sports Zone does not foster a
very good environment, the open
mic doesn’t make you wanna play
there; after I play I’m sad that I
played because there’s no one there,”
said freshman Sean Mercer. Even
with the lack of physical support for
live performances, Mercer was still
able to rally many UMBC students to
vote for him in an Urban Outfitters
Competition with a prize of $500
in Urban gear and a spot in South
By Southwest. The music festival is
annually held in Austin, Texas and
features more than 1,800 acts from
around the globe. Unfortunately, he
did not win the competition, but
did come out with 20,000 votes at
the end. He placed behind a band
called Wake Up Lucid that had Rolling Stone magazine endorse them
for the contest. “It was a tug of war
battle. Its incredible how word of
mouth spreads- we me made a facebook group and over 1,000 people
joined it.” Clearly, UMBC students
are not completely unresponsive as
a support and audience, but they are
not the only ones on which to lay
the blame for why our current music
scene is where it is.
Quadmania is an example of a
showcasing of musical talent, but
not one that could necessarily be
called our own. The winners of
Battle of the Bands, the Town Criers,
played for a fairly large crowd (for
UMBC standards) at Quadmania. It
is ironic that Quadmania is supposed
to raise school spirit when most of
the bands that played the festival
were not even from UMBC, leaving
many of the school’s own talented
bands out and leaving a lot of people
wondering who the hell the bands
playing even were. Much like Sean
Mercer, Kyle Johnson of The Town
Criers does not think UMBC’s music
scene is up to par, saying “there are
not that many legit bands that are
trying to spread music, most of the
g
n
i
m
o
C to theaters
This week
by Erica
Balanc
PATRICIA DAVILA — TRW
> For some students, UMBC’s underground music scene comes second to mainstream labels. Local bands such as
The Town Criers are trying their best to alleviate this dire situation.
time its just a couple of guys with
acoustic guitars and a banjo, its not
innovative.” However, cutting edge
and innovation are hard to find at
a school where almost every single
guy on campus plays an acoustic
guitar and sings.
In the end, neither the audience
nor the acts are the things to blame
for this; mostly it is just a lack of visibility. On average, most students at
UMBC have been to none of the free
concerts thrown on campus, but have
ANGELS & DEMONS [PG-13]
In 2006, Ron Howard brought Dan Brown’s
novel The Da Vinci Code, to the big screen,
and now fans get the prequel, Angels &
Demons. Tom Hanks is back, and this time the
story is centered around Hanks trying to stop
a terrorist attack on The Vatican. Controversy
surrounds these films, and despite the poor
reviews The Da Vinci Code received, controversy still sells. Angels & Demons is probably
banking on the hope that fans of the novels
and the first film will be faithful to this one
(if you’re not on the train at this point, good
luck trying to keep up). I personally haven’t
read either of the books, or seen the first film.
The most I can really say for other unfamiliar
movie-goers is that this film has the better
title and the better promotional poster. And
Ewan McGregor.
MANAGEMENT [R]
Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn star in the
romantic comedy, Management, about a
motel manager (Zahn) who falls in love with a
woman who stays at his motel (Aniston). With
Zahn’s character following Aniston around
the country, and playing music outside her
window at one point in the trailer, shouldn’t
they have cast John Cusack instead? The Sure
Thing and Say Anything come to mind (both
of which star Cusack). But it is nice to see that
Zahn is being given a chance to be the leading man, when he seems to frequently play a
been to several expensive concerts at
local venues for their favorite bands.
Rather than coming out to support
new local musician which they can
talk to and relate with, they would
rather go see a concert with major
label bands that are already famous
-- as if that legitimizes their unoriginal sound. In order for UMBC’s
music scene to flourish there needs
to be a willingness among students
to support their own, to come out
to shows, to be willing to play their
supporting role. Ironically, however, the trailer
gives one the feeling that Woody Harrelson
(in a supporting role) could possibly steal the
spotlight.
TERMINATOR SALVATION [PG-13]
Salvation has arrived for the Terminator series,
and his name is Christian Bale. This fourth
installment looks like it will give the series
the ultimate face-lift, with Bale cast as John
Connor. The story follows the battle between
mankind and Skynet, in a post-apocalyptic
2018. The cast also includes Sam Worthington,
Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon
Bloodgood, Common, Jane Alexander, and
Helena Bonham Carter. Oh, and if you’re wondering whether or not the “Governator” is
part of the project... his name is in the credits.
The box-office seems to be overwhelmed with
action films at this point, with X-Men Origins:
Wolverine and especially Star Trek. Anyone
torn over which film to see need only look at
the different casts. Star Trek is generating a lot
of buzz and acclaim, but its diverse assortment
of actors doesn’t include Christian Bale.
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF
THE SMITHSONIAN [PG]
There were a lot of things right with the first
Night at the Museum. The main thing was
that it could be enjoyed by people of all ages,
which helps any film at the box office and
adds to its appeal. Part of what made it “fun
own shows and to simply “nourish
people’s art inside them” as Mercer
would say. If this trend sucessfully
takes hold, many people may be
surprised as to where UMBC musicians may end up in the future -- in
the words of Rostam Williams, “Hell
yeah, I think all my friends will be
famous one day.”
Comments can be sent to
oujulie1@umbc.edu.
for the whole family,” was that its cast could
be appreciated by older audiences. Well, Night
at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
looks like it is going to top the first film. Its
cast includes Ben Stiller and the gang from
the first film, but also adds Jonah Hill, Bill
Hader, Hank Azaria, and Amy Adams. Okay,
so little kids may not appreciate the presence
of two of the guys from Superbad, but the
trailer itself was actually laugh-out-loud funny
(and it’s not like little kids knew who Mickey
Rooney or Dick Van Dyke were). This time the
story centers around Stiller taking on the big
league: the Smithsonian (if you couldn’t guess
from the title). With this film and Up around
the corner, things are looking good for family
films.
DANCE FLICK [PG-13]
It is a family affair with this one, brought to
us by the Wayans (written by, directed by, and
featuring). This comedy is about a jumble of
story-lines featured in other dance-related
films. It seems they will never run out of film
genres to spoof. At this point, reviews mean
absolutely nothing. It seems that whether
these spoof-films do well or not, they keep on
getting made. Alright, so maybe the trailer
was kind of funny, in the “it’s so stupid, it’s
funny” sort of way. So if you don’t like to do
too much thinking when you go to the theater, Dance Flick may be your cup of tea. All
criticism aside, it will probably be so silly that
you can’t help but laugh.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
ARTS
17
Adaptation and improvisation Students help save
ignite Big Band Jazz Recital
local sports history
Sarah Evans
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Jazz is probably one of the most
challenging styles of music to play,
because, while it may seem informal,
without every note written on the
page, it is still incredibly complicated
and requires a lot of thinking on
your feet. Improvisation is probably
one of the hardest things for a musician to master, but that didn’t seem
to be a challenge for the UMBC Jazz
Ensemble (Big Band). With almost
every member of the group having
their chance at a solo, a full range of
talent was on display.
Under the direction of Matthew
Belzer, the group put on a show that
was, for the most part, smooth sailing. The idea for the concert was to
choose music that showcased one of
the two sides of jazz. The first category was jazz standards, the pop
songs that were adapted to jazz.
The second category that the show
focused on was jazz compositions
which were actually written for jazz
professionals.
With six pieces in the hour-long
performance, the fourteen-member
band demonstrated an excellent
grasp of the variety of enjoyable
pieces. Sophomore Emily Beisel said,
“The pieces had the perfect amount
of dissonance and all of the players
seemed really into it.” The musicians
were all especially into their performance when they had the chance to
solo.
The first piece, “Hora Decubitus”
by Charles Mingus from Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963),
started with a quick count and a snap
of the fingers from Belzer (as did most
of the pieces), at which point bass
and guitar came in. They were soon
joined by the saxes, then trombones
and finally trumpets, all entering on
the same repeating rhythm. It was an
upbeat swinging piece that featured
soloists Jeremy Lubsey on tenor sax,
Max Morawski on alto sax, Martin
Nevarez on trumpet, and Paul Wetzstein on trombone.
“Just Kidding” was a piece by
Elaine Elias, arranged by Bob Brookmeyer for Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra (1991), that started off with just a
drum beat from Adetunji Adenekan,
and was also the first taste of the interesting KAOSS Pad that would be
used more later in the concert. Overall, it was a smooth piece with a good
groove to it. There was even a bit of a
fake-me-out ending where the whole
band stopped playing, only to have
the drums pick it up again. Solos,
including a guitar solo from Dan
Grippi, also transitioned between
each section of the piece.
The next composition, “Bitter
Leaf” by Clare Fischer from Thesaurus (1968), featured Jason Loiland, a
guest student pianist, as well as soloists Kathleen Farrell on trumpet and
Morawski, playing in unison, as well
as featuring Nevarez. The piano solo
was one of the longer of the night,
but it was smooth with a lot of feeling. And while the piece starts on a
dissonant chord, it ends on a more
resolved chord, which is pleasing to
the ear. This was followed by “Kingdom of Not” by Sun Ra, from SuperSonic Jazz (1956). While Sun Ra may
have been quite eccentric, claiming
he was from Saturn, he was still one
of the most important composers
throughout jazz history. This particular piece begins with the rhythm laid
out by bass, guitar and piano, with
the band joining in on top. After solos around each section of the band,
the end fades to just guitar and bass,
who just ended the piece when they
wanted to.
“Chant” by Bob Mintzer, from Latin From Manhattan (1998), was not
your standard Latin jazz piece, but
it was still a crowd pleaser. “It was
one of my favorites,” said freshman
Eva Hochberger, who also thought
the whole concert “was excellent,
they were together and really looked
like they were enjoying themselves.”
Many of the musicians got a chance
for some type of solo in this piece,
and one that stood out in the beginning was when the trumpets blared
and Brandon Lebe and Ferrell played
in unison so clearly that it sounded
like one instrument.
The last piece was “Blues Almighty” by Ken Schaphorst, from
Purple (1999), a piece that is written
to feature an organ. However, since it
would be a little difficult to fit one of
those in the recital hall, Belzer made
the questionable choice to use a KAOSS Pad instead. This is basically a
small piece of technology that emits
sounds that are somewhere between
an old-school video game and the
soundtrack to a sci-fi channel original movie. While it was entertaining,
it did seem a little out of place in the
song.
Other than the slight confusion of
electronic sounds in the last piece,
the overall concert was a success
with great performances and music
selections.
Comments can be sent to
sevans6@umbc.edu.
Derek Roper
STAFF WRITER
Club 4100 was once a happening
hot-spot of the Brooklyn community
in Anne Arundel County, but a couple of years ago they were going to
shut their doors and auction off the
sports memorabilia that adorned the
walls and almost every corner of the
establishment. Locals thought that
this was a sure sign their beloved
hangout would disappear after the
two owners Dino and Manny Spanomanolis left in 2007.
This weekend, 19 students from a
class at UMBC have taken on an immense and wonderful project, with
help provided by a Faculty Innovation Grant funded by the Kauffman
Foundation through the Alex Brown
Center for Entrepreneurship. They
will have food, silent auctions, and
autograph signing, aiming to bring
popularity back to the once happening spot, which is steeped in Baltimore history.
“The idea for the class came out
of a UMBC workshop on social
entrepreneurship led by Kriste Lindenmeyer, Professor and Chair of
the History Department,” said Assistant Professor of the Department
of American Studies, Nicole King,
whose work focuses on exploring
the importance of materialism in
America.
The class looked at four different
possibilities of preservation, two of
which included a Catonsville music
festival because it is known as “music city” due to all the venues and
instrument shops, and to memorialize the history of Jazz on Pennington
Avenue in Brooklyn. They found that
4100 was the most feasible option.
“We want to preserve the history
of Club 4100 because it holds an
important place in Baltimore sports
history and has functioned as a community gathering space for over 50
years,” King informed. She and the
students believe that more community events will help to deter crime
in the neighborhood. The group of
students feels that caring about the
> see 4100 [20]
COREY JOHNS — TRW
> A traditional place for local sports fans and athletes, club 4100 is in danger of closing its doors forever.
> UMBC Camerata performed great choral literature last Friday in the Fine Arts Recital Hall.
ACHSAH JOSEPH— TRW
18
ARTS
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
Comics
rawr!
SLIGHTLY A MASOCHIST
HELEN ZHANG
helenzhangart.com
comments: hz1@umbc.edu
around
campus
Free DVD and CD rentals, the second
floor of the AOK Library at the
Media Desk. Get your groove on
for free with the wide selection of
music that the library offers. And in
case you’re in a TV mood, the library
offers a bunch of movies and TV
shows are there for you to borrow
for a full seven days as well!
TUESDAY MAY 12
BBQ on Erickson Field. Erickson
Field. 6:30 p.m. Join UMBC Hillel
in Celebrating Lag B’Omer with
a festive Kosher BBQ. Come for
dinner and stay through the night
to celebrate a great day of great
happiness during Hillel’s last event
of the year.
Sazonate!!! The Commons: Flat
Tuesdays. 7:30 p.m. Spice up you life
with free Latin cuisine, dancing, and
raffles. Join the party in the lower
level of Flat Tuesdays at this celebration sponsored by the Hispanic/
Latino Student Union.
Midnight Dessert. Resident Dining
Hall. 11:00 p.m. Admission is free w/
Residential ID. What better way to
kick off Study Day than by loading
up on free, sugar-packed delectable
desserts? Come to the D-Hall for
free dessert, music and fun. Wind
down from the last week of classes
while winding up for a week of
busting Finals!
QUESTIONS
WEDNESDAY MAY 13
SUNDAY MAY 17
Pets-On-Wheels. The Commons Terrace. 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 to
8:30 p.m. Miss your own pup? PetsOn-Wheels, a non-profit organization dedicated to “help lick loneliness,” will bring dogs to Campus for
petting. Let man’s best friend relieve
your woes before Finals begin.
Donation Day. Erickson Field. 11:00
a.m. In the spirit of being “green,”
join the Residential Community
in donating items that you might
otherwise throw away. Clothing,
furniture, media, and food items
will all be collected for donation to
Goodwill. All who donate will be eligible for free snacks and giveaways!
THURSDAY MAY 14
UMBC Comp Performance. Fine
Arts Building: Room 317.10:30 a.m.
Admission is free. Come support the
dancers in Composition 1 as they
perform their final projects: selfchoreographed solo performances.
FOR
QUINN
Questions? E-mail advice_trw@umbc.edu
Q. During the last couple of weeks, I met and started getting to know this new girl. She’s really great, and I was thinking about trying to
take things to the next level. The problem is that the semester is almost over and we live in different states. So we would be at least a two
hour drive apart while we are at home for the summer. Now that I have realized this, I’m not sure what I should do. Do I break things off and
just hope that I meet her again next fall, or do I give pursuing her a shot even though we will be long distance very soon?
A. Ask anyone with experience and they will tell you that maintaining a long distance relationship is difficult at best and completely impossible at its worst. Ask
them about starting a relationship over a long distance and you will get a few blank stares and the assumption that it is probably just as hard. Don’t believe
them. There are actually several things working in your favor. The fact that you have a foundation established with this girl means that if you initiate talking to
her over the summer, it won’t be weird. Most long distance forms of communication like AIM or e-mail let you proofread what you’re saying before it is sent,
so a little extra effort on your part guarantees that you are always saying the right thing at the right time to be as charming as possible. And if all goes well
and you two start dating over the summer or at the beginning of the new semester, you will have an incredibly strong start to your relationship since you took
it slow and actually got to know one another, instead of rushing headlong into a physical or superficial connection. If you choose to postpone going after this
girl, it could work out alright that you pick up where you left off next fall. But it could also turn out that she meets someone else and won’t speak to you again.
Don’t lose your window of opportunity – go for it!
Q. I know for a fact that when I go home for the summer, my parents will try to take over control of my life. When I’m at school I can do
whatever I want, and I’m responsible about having fun – I don’t do anything stupid. But at home I’m treated like I’m just a kid again. My
parents won’t let me go out with my friends unless they have met them, which is impossible with friends from college. I have a ridiculously
early curfew, and I’m not allowed to leave the house until my room is clean. How can I get my parents to realize I’m adult who is fully capable of making my own decisions and that they need to get off my case and let me live my own life?
A. You have to recognize the classic “while you’re living in my house, you’ll live by my rules” attitude that your parents have. Unfortunately for you, there is
no easy way to reach a perfect balance of power between parents’ control and kids’ independence. The best thing to do (as cliché as it sounds) is to pick your
battles. It is going to take a lot more than a semester or two at college for your parents to completely give up the authority they’ve had over your life since it
started approximately twenty years ago. Figure out on your own where and to what extent you are willing to follow your parents’ rules and where you absolutely need your freedom. Then talk it through with your parents and see if you can’t persuade them to compromise a little. Get your curfew moved back a few
hours in exchange for keeping your room clean, or offer to leave contact numbers when you go to visit friends that they haven’t met yet. If your parents are
reasonable people and not ridiculously controlling, they will recognize that you’ve grown up, at least enough that they can bend to your requests and it won’t
be the end of the world. On the other hand, if your parents simply can’t cut the puppet strings just yet, you have two options. You can follow their rules and
be miserable, or you can not follow their rules and deal with the consequences (and probably still be miserable). Look on the bright side – at least the choice of
misery is up to you.
4
The RetrIever Weekly
k
g
CROSSWORD
31
a
ACROSS
1. Female demon
6. “Shucks!”
10. Scattered
14. African antelope
15. Sharpen
16. Laugh
17. Heart artery
18. Expel
19. “Smallest particle”
20. Representative
22. Current amount
24. Fifty-three in Roman
numerals
25. Smiled contemptuously
26. A type of ski race
29. Clash of clans
30. Hobbling
31. Daughter of a step-parent
37. Decree
39. French for “Friend”
40. Having no limbs
41. Meteorologist
44. Away from the wind
45. Scarce
46. Move up
48. The study of past events
52. Child
53. Hymn or national song
54. Fortification
58. Beloved
59. Fabrics made from goat hair
61. King
62. Therefore
63. Rave
64. Moon of Saturn
65. Ragout
66. Leg joint
67. Rock
13. Appointed
21. Goals
23. TV, radio, etc.
25. Old photo color
26. Killed
27. Stow, as cargo
28. Dogfish
29. French for “Woman”
32. Dawdle
33. What an astronaut wears
34. Lacquered metalware
35. Biblical garden
36. Marsh plant
38. Paroxysm
42. Designate
43. Wood fastener
47. Passes around or avoids
48. God of the underworld
(Greek mythology)
49. Lifeless
50. Performance platform
51. Toss
52. Flavor
54. Sheet of glass
55. Countertenor
56. A university administrator
57. Coastal raptor
60. Prohibit
05.12.09
ARTS
19
games
WWW.MIRROREYES.COM/CROSSWORD
DOWN
1. Direct
2. Found in skin lotion
3. An earthy deposit rich in
lime
4. The capacity for rational
thought
5. Slowly, to a conductor
6. Hindu loincloth
7. Debauchee
8. Autonomic Nervous
System
9. Lockjaw
10. Form
11. Cowboy movie
12. Prostitute
SUDOKU
SOLUTIONS
TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLES
CROSSWORD
LEMO.DK/SUDOKU
CATEGORY
difficult
WHAT TO DO
SUDOKU
Fill all empty squares
so that the numbers
1 to 9 appear once in
each row, column and
3x3 box. You might
want to use a pencil!
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RESEARCH STUDY Smoke cigarettes?
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“College Student Occasional and Daily
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CLUB NOTICES
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The RetrIever
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Baltimore, MD 21250
(410) 455-1260
Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
20
ARTS
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
UMBC class strives to protect Club 4100’s legacy
> from 4100 [17]
history of the establishment and
the Brooklyn community can help
to renew a sense of place and community.
Concerned Citizens for a Better
Brooklyn, a non-profit organization
that strives to represent the interests
of approximately 10,000 community
residents is going to be receiving the
funds from the project.
“It is all about these community
members who make this project so
worthwhile,” wrote Melanie Mapp,
UMBC student and group advertiser,
on the project blog, club4100.blogspot.com.
Nikki Beswick, a Brooklyn resident, remembers the spot very well.
“I used to go there with friends and
family, it was a local and fun place,
like Bill’s Lighthouse is to South
Baltimore,” Beswick remembered.
“It’s good to see the place gain new
popularity, hopefully.” Beswick said
though that she doesn’t think that
the event will prevent neighborhood
crime.
The club was also a favorite of
Baltimore Colts legend, Johnny Unitas. He had been coming there for
40 years before his death in 2002.
Keeping with that tradition, Johnny
Unitas’ family is also scheduled to
attend the fundraising event as well.
Raj and Meena Harkie, the club’s
current owners say that they are
happy that the pictures and the
memories are not going away anytime soon. “There is a bit of heir and
value to this place,” Raj said. “The
Colts would come here after every
game. It was a place where they
could just have fun, relax, and not
have any trouble.”
Colts players, such as Stan White
(who will also be making an appearance), still come in as well as players
for the Orioles, Ravens, and Terrapins.
The fundraising for Club 4100
takes place on May 17, at 1 p.m. 200
tickets have been printed and Mapp
said that most of the tickets are expected to sell. They are $20 at the
door and $15 advance, which also
includes an open-mic show featuring residents from the Brooklyn area
telling personal stories.
“For the past month business has
picked up a little bit,” Raj said. “I
think [the event] will give the club a
big boost.” Hopefully the fundraiser
will provide the boost necessary to
get the timeless club back on its
feet.
Comments can be sent to:
roderek1@umbc.edu
Horoscopes
by Morgan Hammett
Taurus (4/20-5/20): Try not to commit to anything or
make promises now. You think your ideas are great,
but then you say them out loud and start to doubt
yourself. Your desires start to dictate your actions, and
then you begin to feel confident. Establishing routines is one thing
you’re good at, but this weekend, expect a sudden change of plans.
Someone that intrigues you, or something you don’t fully agree with
pops up.
Gemini (5/21-6/21): You are difficult to work with, to say the least.
You are sociable and good in groups but have trouble empathizing
with others. Practice this skill or risk losing a friend, co-worker, or romantic interest. If you really just cannot see something from someone
else’s perspective then distance yourself. You are more flexible and
feel able to adapt to most situations.
Cancer (6/22-7/22): Don’t feel bad about asking for favors from other
people who you’ve been helping out. You are very generous and
warm-hearted, but you need a hand every now and then too! This
weekend have some last minute fun to relieve you from stress. The
less planning, the better. Accept an impromptu invitation from a
friend, or go see a movie you’ve been dying to see at the theater.
Leo (7/23-8/22): Out with the old, and in with the new. You do some
spring cleaning this week, and are surprised to see how much gets
tossed away. It’s liberating to throw away old baggage and move
on. Your pride is still intact but your ego is more toned down this
week. You really enjoy just relaxing and just casually getting to know
people. You can make some great connections this way.
Virgo (8/23-9/22): Evaluate your schedule early on, and eliminate
things as needed. Better to cancel unrealistic plans now than to
disappoint people later. It’s no secret that you like things to be tidy,
organized, and manageable. Be careful not to act too pushy towards
others. Their feelings and intentions might be genuine, so don’t start
questioning their motives and interrogating them just yet.
Capricorn (12/22-1/19): Accept that you can’t make everything happen all of the time. You are dedicated of course, but if your dedication can’t pull you through why not try focusing on more feasible
projects? If you’re unsure of your own capabilities stick with what
you know you can do. There’s nothing wrong with pulling from your
security zone when you’re a little lacking in confidence.
Libra (9/23-10/22): You make some personal strides, and then start
to get nostalgic about the past. Don’t let what’s already behind
you weigh down your future endeavors. It might be time to view
someone realistically, as they are, instead of remembering them as
something greater. If someone or something is not in your life currently, there must be a reason. You are totally in tune with everyone
and everything this weekend.
Aquarius (1/20-2/18): You have a unique perspective that can be
enhanced around other people. Bounce your ideas and thoughts
off friends and you’ll be sure to come up with something even bigger than you anticipated. If you want to act on some of your ideas
though wait for the right time. People need to be ready for your
grandiose plans. Show off your smartness over the weekend.
Scorpio (10/23-11/21): You are in overdrive and are so focused it’s
almost scary. It’s good to get work done but you might want to pace
yourself a little. You’re not a robot; it’s OK to take some breaks. If a
schedule is not working or needs to be adjusted, make the necessary
corrections. Summer is quickly approaching, so make plans with
friends. You are intuitive and know just how to respond to people’s
needs.
Sagittarius (11/22-12/21): Whether you succeed or fail, your energy
and confidence makes all efforts admirable. With odds like that it’s
worth it to take some risks. You can royally screw up and still walk
away with a smile on your face. Be careful not to get too fixated on
something though. Look around at all of your possibilities before
honing in on one of them. All sorts of fun, new people spring up this
weekend.
Pisces (2/19-3/20): You might be getting a little fed up or annoyed
with other people’s ideas. If you don’t like theirs, why not suggest
your own? Ranting to friends might be an effective short-term solution, but it won’t help you further down the road. This weekend your
head is in the clouds when it should be in the books. Release some of
your creative energy so you can knock some practical tasks out of the
way.
Aries (3/21-4/19): Dating should be fun and exciting, and this week
you aim to make the most of it. Hold off on the restaurant and a
movie combo package and try something more personal. You’ve got
a lot on your mind and hopefully a lot to say to a loved one. Romance
currently fits into your larger plan, and you attend to smaller projects
and goals later in the week.
> Commuting and resident
students
alike
flocked to Academic Row
this past Wednesday at
free hour for the Commuter Connection’s annual
“Jest for Fun” carnival
featuring face painting,
live music, charactures,
and even a chance to win
a pet goldfish.
NOAH BENNETT — TRW
The RetrIever Weekly
05.12.09
advertIsEment
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22
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05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
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05.12.09
advertIsEment
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WANT YOU TO WIN A PASS TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING
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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Employees of all promotional partners and their agencies are not eligible.
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advertIsEment
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
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Friday & Saturday: 8:00am - 11:00pm
Sunday: 9:00am - 10:00pm
25
sports
sports@retrieverweekly.com
Sports, above all else, made
UMBC home
THIS WEEK IN SPORTS
TU ESDAY
05.12
Baseball vs. Georgetown at 7:00 p.m.
FR IDAY
05.15
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field at IC4A/ECAC Championships (All Day)
SATU R AY
05.16
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field at IC4A/ECAC Championships (All Day)
SU N DAY
05.17
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field at IC4A/ECAC Championships (All Day)
COURTESY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM
> Alex Pyles (47) found a place to fit in at UMBC through athletics. He worked for The Retriever Weekly as a writer,
sports editor, and editor in chief in his four year career.
Alexander Pyles
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
It was late when my black Jeep
Cherokee pulled back onto campus and
slowed at the stop sign near the school’s
signature silo on UMBC Boulevard.
It was another of dozens of days and
evenings I spent outside the confines of
The Loop Road my first semester here.
I was 18, I wasn’t fitting in and I wasn’t
enjoying myself.
Sitting next to me that night was
my high school best friend and college
roommate. Behind me was another
good friend from high school. As my
roommate and I grumbled over our return to campus, my friend in the back
spoke up. He almost seemed offended.
“This place is my home,” my friend
said.
I didn’t understand what my old
friend Steve meant at the time. I didn’t
understand how after only a month he
could already be so attached to the suburban Baltimore campus I reluctantly
traipsed about no more than five days
a week. I was desperately searching for
a way out, while Steve was digging his
d
e
r
u
t
a athlete : alex hopmann
e
F
Donald Daniels
EDITORIAL STAFF
With another season coming to an end,
the men’s lacrosse captured another America
East Championship crown. This past Saturday the Retrievers saw their NCAA tournament run cut short by the hands of the
sixth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. In a
high scoring game UMBC came up just three
goals short in extending their post season.
In the loss three different Retrievers scored
three goals in which senior midfielder Alex
Hopmann was a player. He also scooped up
COURTESY ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
feet deeper into the sand.
Now, at 22 and writing the last column of a four-year career at The Retriever Weekly, it’s shocking what time
has done to my perspective of UMBC.
Steve fit in right away, but it took some
work for me to finally get to the point
where I can call this place home – and
mean it, too.
It’s the people one meets along the
way that make all the difference in one’s
experience, and it’s the people I’ve met
at UMBC – as a student, as a writer and
editor at The Retriever, as a Maintenance
Assistant for Residential Life – that have
somehow made imposing brick buildings and poorly-sodded fields homey.
More than anything, without being a
varsity athlete, sports have made UMBC
home for me. I’ve always felt sports
meant more than simple wins and losses and numbers in a box score. Sports
are a microcosm of our society for those
who have the wisdom to look beyond
the surface. Without athletics – and yes,
the people that I experienced them with
– I wouldn’t be nearly as proud to wear
the black and gold.
Intramural Sports: I met my best
friends playing intramural flag football
and softball at UMBC. Looking back,
two ground balls and dished out one assist. Throughout the season Hopmann has
been one the main contributors on offense
for UMBC as he helped the team lead the
AEC in several offense categories including
points per game 18.67, goals scored (12),
and assists (6.67). From and individual
standpoint Hopmann finished out his career
in stellar fashion as more than doubled his
goals scored and assists from a year ago.
He ended the 2009 season the overall team
leader in goals scored at 33 and assists with
19. Hopmann is fifth in the America East
Conference with 2.20 goals per game and
my experience at this school will always
be, first and foremost, the Warrior Machine (kind of dorky, right?) intramural
“franchise” we created. Like any college
team, the parts changed over the years
as players graduated. This year, the last
of the core members of that team will
leave our southwest Baltimore campus,
content with the experiences we shared
together on the field and friendships
that were forged off of it. We never did
win a softball championship, losing in
three straight title games, which probably goes down as the group’s only
regret.
But I guess five campus football
championships, a Mid-Atlantic regional
crown, and one trip to the National
Championship in Dallas, Tex., numbs
the pain a bit.
2007-08 Men’s Basketball: I still
remember, in Potomac Hall room 272,
talking to my freshman year roommate
– actually, my freshman, sophomore,
junior and senior year roommate –
about how fun it would be to watch our
basketball team make an appearance
in the NCAA Tournament. Zak and I
didn’t care how the team fared in the
> see UMBC HOME [27]
ninth in points per game at 2.67. In his career Hopmann has 75 goals, 36 assists and
103 points. His senior year he was named
a team captain for the second straight year.
In 2007 he was selected to Second -Team
America East Conference as he had 20 goals
and eight assists that year. Before coming to
UMBC, the Annapolis high school graduate
was named to the Baltimore Sun All County
Team for helping AHS get to the regional
quarter semi-finals.
Comments can be sent to ddaniels@retrieverweekly.com.
26
SPORTS
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
america east statistics
MEN’S LACROSSE
S TA N D I N G S
School
AE
W
UMBC
STONY BROOK
ALBANY
BINGHAMTON
VERMONT
HARTFORD
04
04
03
02
01
01
•
•
•
•
•
•
Overall
L
W
01
01
02
03
04
04
12
09
07
03
04
02
•
•
•
•
•
•
L E AG U E L E A D E R S
Save Percentage
Goals Scored
L
Name
Team Avg./G
04
06
07
12
10
11
COREY SMALL
JORDAN MCBRIDE
ANDREW KELLEHER
JOE RESETARITS
ALEX HOPMANN
KEVIN CROWLE
AIDAN GENIK
BRIAN CAUFIELD
MATT LATHAM
PEET POILLON
UA
SBU
UVM
UA
UMBC
SBU
Hart.
UA
UMBC
UMBC
3.10
2.80
2.50
2.43
2.25
1.87
1.85
1.71
1.68
1.62
Name
Team Saves
GA
Sv. Pct.
JORDAN MARRA
KEVIN KOHRI
LEE MALANDRINO
SCOTT BEMENT
JUSTIN LUBAS
ROB CAMPOSA
JEREMY BLEVINS
LARRY KLINE
CHARLIE PAAR
ALEX PLAVNER
Bing.
UMBC
Hart.
Hart.
UVM
SBU
UMBC
Bing
SBU
UVM
2
5
14
93
89
39
126
147
130
54
.714
.667
.588
.57
.568
.552
.545
.516
.509
.505
5
10
20
127
117
48
151
157
135
55
League Leaders statistics updated as of 05/11/09.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
S TA N D I N G S
School
AE
W
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
NEW HAMPSHIRE
ALBANY
VERMONT
UMBC
STONY BROOK
BINGHAMTON
06
04
04
03
03
01
00
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Overall
L
W
00
02
02
03
03
05
06
15
12
09
09
09
04
03
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
L E AG U E L E A D E R S
Save Percentage
Goals Scored
L
Name
Team AVG./G Name
04
07
08
08
08
12
13
SARAH DALTON
SARAH VON BARGEN
TRACI LANDY
KAYLA BEST
KARA DORR
EL RORIE
KATLIN LEGGIO
JODI BATTAGLIA
MICKINLEY CURRO
ALLISON PFOHI
BU
UNH
BU
UA
UMBC
UA
SBU
UA
BU
UVM
4.78
3.28
2.94
2.62
2.50
2.35
2.31
2.24
2.10
2.06
SUSIE SWEENEY
KATE QUICK
OLIVIA HATFIELD
MICKEY CAHILL
RACHEL KLEIN
JAMIE CARLSON
LAUREN SCOTT
KATIE NEER
KATE GUNTS
LAURA BARBER
Team Saves
GA
Sv. Pct.
UMBC
UMBC
UVM
SBU
BU
SBU
Bing.
UA
UNH
UVM
14
153
161
218
193
23
107
13
85
38
.517
.483
.460
.445
.444
.425
.418
.417
.401
.387
15
143
137
175
154
17
77
138
57
24
League Leaders statistics updated as of 05/11/09.
BASEBALL
S TA N D I N G S
School
AE
W
BINGHAMTON
ALBANY
STONY BROOK
MAINE
VERMONT
HARTFORD
UMBC
12
13
12
11
10
05
04
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
L E AG U E L E A D E R S
Overall
L
W
04
07
08
09
09
13
17
25
22
27
30
18
13
09
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Earned Run Average
Batting Average
L
Name
Team
Avg.
17
27
19
21
28
30
34
MATT DUFFY
SHAWN RETZ
KEVIN MCAVOY
MARK MICOWSKI
IAN LEISENHEIMER
ANDY DREXEL
MIKE AMENDOLA
BRIAN WITKOWSKI
DAVE CIOCCHI
COREY TAYLOR
UVM
UMBC
Maine
UVM
Maine
Hart.
Hart.
SBU
Bing.
Bing.
.417
.392
.390
.376
.374
.371
.367
.357
.352
.351
Name
Team
Avg.
MURPHY SMITH
AJ BAZDANES
JUSTIN ALBERT
KEITH BILODEAU
NICK TROPEANO
SEAN GREGORY
JAMES GIULIETTI
MATT JEBB
JEFF DENNIS
TYLER JOHNSON
Bing.
Maine
UVM
Maine
SB
UA
Bing.
Maine
Bing.
SBU
2.54
3.47
3.79
4.13
4.23
4.26
4.28
4.38
4.39
4.45
League Leaders statistics updated as of 05/11/09.
SOFTBALL
S TA N D I N G S
School
AE
W
STONY BROOK
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
ALBANY
UMBC
MAINE
HARTFORD
VERMONT
BINGHAMTON
15
14
12
12
12
09
04
02
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
L E AG U E L E A D E R S
Overall
L
W
05
06
07
08
09
09
17
19
36
41
38
34
32
19
08
07
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Earned Run Average
Batting Average
L
Name
Team
Avg.
14
16
16
21
22
22
38
36
APRIL SETTERLUND
ALEXIS SOHLARIS
MEAGAN BUTSCH
AMANDA FEFEL
VICKI KAVITSKY
LAUREN BRUMMELL
MARISSA FLEURY
KELSI FANELLI
SHAYNE LOTITO
MELISSA DUBAY
BU
Maine
UA
UMBC
SBU
UMBC
SBU
SBU
BU
BU
.405
.397
.382
.381
.377
.368
.362
.361
.354
.348
Name
Team
Avg.
LEAH MCINTOSH
CASSIDI HARDY
CASEY JACOBS
JENNA BALENT
ALYSSA STRUZENBERG
STEPHANIE WEIGMAN
BRITTNEY STRATTON
MEGAN CURRIER
ALEXIS SOHLARIS
KELLY ENGMAN
UA
BU
SBU
Maine
SBU
UMBC
Hart.
BU
Maine
BU
1.34
1.40
1.57
1.91
1.98
2.17
2.34
2.51
2.76
3.00
League Leaders statistics updated as of 05/11/09.
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
SPORTS
27
Baseball season comes to a close
Brandon Wright
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
While the year for the UMBC Retrievers baseball team has been rough,
there is much reason to be pleased
with the team’s efforts in 2009. This
season should not be remembered for
the team’s record, but instead for the
significant progress made by some of
the team’s younger players over the
course of the season.
With seniors Brad Brainer, Tom
Meaney, Wink Nolan, Shawn Retz, and
Dave Warrenfeltz all departing the program next season, the Retrievers will
have positions to fill, but an astounding core of position players are returning next season and seasons to come.
The future looks to featured Max
Himmelstein. He should be the anchor
behind the dish for the Retrievers, as
well as a run producer in the middle
of the line-up. Himmelstein has batted
.331 with 26 RBI on the year, both good
enough for third on the team. Also, his
batting average of .379 with runners in
scoring position is the second highest
on the team. He also had 11 multi-hit
games in his 34 games started.
Justin Lamborn is also a freshman
who is having an impressive year on
the diamond, as he split time between
second base and shortstop. Lamborn
leads the team in assists with 73, as well
as helping produce 11 double plays. At
the plate, Lamborn’s patience paid off,
as he leads the team in walks with 17,
and his seven doubles tie Himmelstein
for fourth place.
Sophomores Brain Russo and Rich
Conlon Russo both had productive
years as well. Russo started the year
hot, as he hit three of his five home
runs in the first five games of the year.
Russo currently has a .521 slugging
percentage and his five home runs are
third for the Retrievers.
Conlon batted .286 in 23 games
started at the shortstop position. Conlon’s .375 on base percentage is fourth
on the team despite missing games
with injuries. With Lamborn and Conlon returning, the Retrievers should
have a great defensive infield that got
better from the beginning of the year,
and year to year in Conlon’s case.
While Dan Blewett missed, this season with an injury, and Ryan Morse
will be leaving in the off season, there
is plenty to be excited about in the
rotation and bullpen. Notably, Austin
Drewyer has matched his 2008 total
of wins with two, second most on the
Retriever pitching staff, and lowered
his ERA to 7.16, as of May 6th, from
7.81 last season. Drewyer has led the
team in innings pitched with 60.1, and
strikeouts, with 37. When looking at
the progression Drewyer made from
his freshman season to his sophomore
season, one must be impressed, and if
he keeps progressing that way he could
be a force in the conference by the time
he is a senior.
Travis Pearson is another sopho-
more that has been impressive on the
mound, and has come in from the bullpen 14 times this season. He currently
leads the Retrievers with a 3.82 ERA
and, appearances with 15. While Ed
Bach has had a down year, he and Kevin Clark will return as seniors to help
provide extra options in the rotation.
The X-factor is David Divita. He has
the potential to be a great pitcher in the
conference but injuries have limited his
effectiveness. If he ever gets healthy he
may be a great pitcher in the conference, but until then he could struggle
a little more.
Other young pitchers have not gotten a chance to see many innings of
work. Sophomores Marty Zawacki,
Luke DiBlasi, and Terrence Moore,
have all been injured at some point in
the season, their respective returns to
health will boost the Retrievers pitching staff, and arm Coach John Jancuska
with arms for any situation.
With strong performances from the
younger players on the 2009 Retrievers roster, there looks to be plenty of
promise for the future of the team. The
ceiling is high for UMBC, a foundation
is in place, and it looks to be only a matter of time before the team comes into
their own and returns to the America
East Championship tournament.
NOAH BENNETT — TRW
Comments can be sent to
brwrigh1@umbc.edu.
> Sophomore Travis Pearson (19) has an ERA of 3.82 in 15
appearances with a record of 1-4.
A look back at UMBC sports
> from UMBC HOME [25]
NOAH BENNETT — TRW
> Senior Shawn Retz (17) leads the team in home runs (9), batting
average (.392), slugging percentage (.647), and hits (60).
Big Dance, we just wanted the experience. But we knew we were dreaming,
if for no other reason than the fact that
a 5-foot-8 point guard didn’t stand a
chance at leading the Retrievers anywhere except the America East cellar.
That was my freshman year. By the
time I was a junior, I was sitting at RBC
Arena’s Press Table at North Carolina
State University, reporting on the America East Champion Retrievers battling
No. 2 seed Georgetown in a first round
NCAA Tournament game. Keeping
with my freshman year mindset – I just
wanted them to make the dance, I just
wanted to experience the electricity in
the air – the headline of my column the
next week read ”No shame in loss, Retrievers show they have true grit.” The
basketball team showed me something
I didn’t expect, and brought a lot of
people together in the process. I’ll never
forget that trip to Raleigh, N.C.
Oh, and that 5-foot-8 point guard?
After leading another surprise run to
the conference title game this year, he’ll
graduate with me in a few weeks as the
best point guard in Retriever basketball
history.
2007 Retriever Volleyball: The
basketball team’s NCAA Tournament
trip will go down as a fantastic experience, but this team will always top the
list of those I witnessed in action at
UMBC.
Before the season even started, tragedy struck the program as top-recruit
Madison Bingaman never made it to
campus after getting into an automo-
bile accident on the way to UMBC from
her home in Texas. I was beginning my
second year as The Retriever’s sports
editor as the preseason got started, so
was given the task of learning as much
as I could about Bingaman and the team
that would have to take the court without her.
What I found was a truly unique and
special person and a team and coach
fraught in mourning at her loss.
But the team came together, helping
each other heal, in a way only sports
can facilitate. That team missed the
America East Tournament, but won a
school-record 20 games and taught us
all valuable lessons about what it means
to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
2007 Chicago Marathon: Two
former UMBC varsity athletes, and two
of my best friends, traveled to Chicago
in the Fall of 2007 to run the Chicago
Marathon. Given the gravity of the accomplishment – and, honestly, it’s not
like college students need a great reason
to go on a road trip – the rest of my
friends and I drove the 11-plus hours
to the Windy City to watch Casey and
Megan run.
The trip itself was an amazing experience, but watching my friends cross the
finish line in Chicago inspired me so
much that I wrote my next column on
their remarkable athletic achievement
in the back of a minivan somewhere in
Ohio. I don’t recall another weekend
that better cemented my friendship
with that group, and certainly don’t remember ever being more proud of two
individuals.
2009 Country Music Marathon
in Nashville: There is no doubt about
this: If Megan and Casey didn’t run Chicago, I never would have run my first
marathon 18 months later in Nashville,
Tenn. Along with Casey, my four-year
roommate Zak, and Joe, the quarterback
and MVP of that regional champion
football team, I crossed the finish line
in Nashville wearing a black and gold
UMBC intramural sports t-shirt. For
me, the marathon was my last athletic
achievement at UMBC, the last thing I
would accomplish with those friends as
an undergraduate. One more thing that
I couldn’t have done without them.
Not that graduating changes much.
Already, Casey and I have signed up to
run the New York City Half Marathon
together in August. The bulk of the Warrior Machine plays in an independent
league north of Baltimore on Saturday
mornings. After meeting through sports
at UMBC, sports still bind us together
post-graduation.
Sports are a special societal staple,
but when I got to this campus I think
sports were mostly left on the back
burner. That’s changed some, and for
me sports were my path toward making
UMBC my home.
If I have one hope as I depart, it’s
that others will find themselves in the
stadiums, arenas and two-mile Outer
Loop just as I did. I guess you could say
I took the road less traveled.
It’s made all the difference.
Comments can be sent to
aapyles@gmail.com.
28
SPORTS
05.12.09
The RetrIever Weekly
Softball falls short
in America East
Tournament
Zach Seidel
STAFF WRITER
FILE PHOTO — TRW
> Peet Poillon (21) made an immediate impact for men’s lacrosse by leading the team with 47 points after
transferring from Ohio State.
Men’s Lacrosse Loses in Opening Round of NCAA Tournament
to North Carolina, 15-13
Corey Johns
EDITORIAL STAFF
The men’s lacrosse team put up a
valiant effort against the No. 6 team
in the nation, but the North Carolina Tar Heels did just enough to get
past UMBC in the first round of the
NCAA tournament.
There were high expectations for
UMBC this season. After returning
the majority of the starters team from
last year’s tournament team, UMBC
was expected to do great things this
year. Some may say they should have
done more, but it is hard to have a
better season than UMBC did this
year. Despite playing a grueling nonconference schedule, UMBC only
suffered four losses this season with
the last one coming in the first round
of the NCAA tournament in what was
expected to be a high scoring game.
UMBC did not go down without
a fight. They held the lead for the
majority of the game and went into
the half with an 8-6 advantage over
the Tar Heels. It was not until 4:30
left in the third quarter when North
Carolina grabbed the lead for good,
but even then UMBC kept fighting.
However, it was not enough as they
lost 15-13.
Three Retrievers recorded hat
tricks in the game. Chris Jones,
Kyle Wimer, and Alex Hopmann
all recorded three goals while Matt
Latham recorded a pair and Ryan
Smith and Peet Poillon rounded out
the scoring with a goal each.
The problem that was UMBC could
not find an answer for Billy Bitter. He
scored eight goals of nine shots and
had an assist. Other than Bitter, only
four Tar Heels scored and only Bart
Wagner recorded a multi-goal game.
Bitter has been praised as one of
the top attacks in the country and
showed why against UMBC. Despite
great net play by Jeremy Blevins,
who recorded 12 saves, and solid
defense by Steve Settembrino, Kevin
Goedeke, and Matt Kresse, he found
a way to score, and as the saying
goes, “when you’re hot you’re hot,”
and Bitter was hot.
With the season at an end there
is still a lot to be excited about for
next season. While UMBC does lose
the most successful senior class in
UMBC history, as the four year seniors are the only class to make it to
the NCAA tournament each year, the
progression of the younger players is
something to look forward to. Justin
Radebaugh struggled at face-offs this
year, but coach Don Zimmerman
gave him the full time job and he
will be better for it. Freshman very
rarely are the full time face-off man
on a lacrosse team, but Radebaugh
took nearly every face-off since being
names the face-off man before they
played Maryland.
Aside from Radebaugh the progression of attacks that Rob Grimm
and Bobby Stockton leaves cause for
excitement in the future. Grimm
was expected to be a key contributor
as a freshman but seeing the progression Stockton made from last year to
this year is impressive.
The young guys are going to have
their hands full setting in for the current senior class. Hopmann lead the
team in goals this year and became
UMBC’s all time leading scorer. As
the year moved on he got better
and really became the anchor of the
UMBC offense. Other seniors in-
clude Ryan Smith, who after suffering a slow start while coming back
from an ACL tear a year ago still managed to score 24 goals on the season.
Kevin Goedeke and Steve Settembrino have been great surprises this
year on defense for the Retrievers.
Goedeke did not start the season but
he battled back and earned his starting job back. Settembrino, however,
is a great story. He spent his previous
three seasons as purely a man who
came in for man-down situations, but
after impressing Zimmerman after an
injury to Bobby Atwell, Settembrino
earned the starting spot and was the
only Retriever to start every game on
defense this year.
The big addition for UMBC this
year will be a short lived one. Poillon
transferred from Ohio State in the
off-season and immediately made
his impact. He led UMBC with 45
points after taking over in the center
midfield this season.
The big loss however will be
Blevins. He has been a two-time
Tewarrton player of the year finalist
and won the America East Conference Player of the year award this
year after a phenomenal season in
goal for UMBC. Blevins graduates
as the winningest active goalie in
the nation and arguably the best in
UMBC history.
It will be a struggle to find guys
to fill their spots next year, but Zimmerman is one of the best coaches
in the nation for a reason, giving opponents something to worry about
every year.
Comments can be sent to
cjohns2@umbc.edu.
The UMBC softball team saw its
season come to an end on Friday after
falling to Albany in the first elimination game of the America East’s double-elimination tournament.
The Retrievers stormed into the
post-season, winning seven of their
final nine conference games to earn
the tournament berth, including a
two-game sweep of Hartford last
weekend to earn the No. 4 seed and a
spot in the four-team tournament.
UMBC (34-21) played top seed
and host Stony Brook on the first
day of the tournament on Thursday,
falling 3-1. The Seawolves took a 1-0
lead in the first, and added two more
unearned runs in the third.
The Retrievers were quiet offensively until scoring their only run of
the game in the seventh when sophomore Malorie Weller, who reached
on an error, scored on senior Krista
Kearns’ ground out. Sophomore
Stephanie Weigman allowed only
one earned run, struck out four, and
allowed four hits in six innings of
work.
In the elimination game, UMBC’s
bats again couldn’t do much in a 5-1
loss to Albany.
The Retrievers took an early 1-0
lead on sophomore Lauren Brummell’s RBI single in the third, the
100th hit of her career. The thirdseeded Great Danes would answer
back immediately with a solo home
run in the bottom half of the inning.
A three-run fifth and an insurance
run in the sixth was all Albany would
need.
Weigman pitched five solid innings, allowing four runs, three of
which were earned, and striking out
five. It was a sour ending to a great
season for Weigman, who finished
with a record of 22-16, becoming the
first pitcher in UMBC history to win
20 games. She set the season and career records for strikeouts in the process of helping the Retrievers earn to
their fourth consecutive post-season
berth.
UMBC exceeded the expectations of
some this season, finishing fourth, as
the team was tied for fifth in the preseason poll. With the core of the team
returning next year, the Retrievers are
in good shape to make another run at
the America East Championship.
Comments can be sent to
zseidel@umbc.edu.
FILE PHOTO — TRW
> Softball records most wins since 2006 season finishing 34-21.
InsIde
sports
25 PAST UMBC ATHLETICS
26 AEC STATS
27 BASEBALL WINDS DOWN