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Our 102ND Year, No. 95THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPERThursday, February 23, 2012
GOLDEN RULEAre the Academy Awards
out of touch with cinema?
DIVERSIONS | PAGE 6
Drug policy onhold in Senate
Senator proposes amending bill after its narrow passage in the HouseBY JIM BACH
Staff writer
Although proponents of same-sex mar-riage legislation thought they only had onemore vote in the Senate after the billpassed the state’s House of Delegates onFriday, Sen. Ed Reilly (R-Anne Arundel)has proposed amending the bill, makingits passage all the more uncertain.
The House vote was thought to be thebiggest obstacle in getting the bill to Gov.Martin O’Malley, who has pledged his sup-port for the legislation, since the chamberkilled the bill last legislative session. But ifReilly’s amendment to the legislation —which would put the measure in place Oct.1, 2012, rather than Jan. 1, 2013— isaccepted in a Senate hearing tomorrow,
the House would haveto vote once again —and many supporterssaid they are con-cerned the body willoppose the measure ina second vote.
“It would requirethe bill to get clearedagain by the House,”Sen. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery) said.“The reason for theamendment was to kill the bill.”
While the Senate was supposed to voteon the amendment yesterday, Reillyrequested to delay the hearing by one day.
“This is an important issue for all of us,” hesaid during yesterday’s hearing. “I don’t have
a sense that we need to rush through this.”The same-sex marriage bill that passed
the House has its enactment date set forJan. 2013 to provide sufficient time for a ref-erendum, since many opponents havepledged to launch a petition effort to put themeasure on the November ballot if passed.
Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery)said Reilly’s amendment is simply a way tostall the bill’s passage and to try to kill itbefore it reaches O’Malley’s desk.
“I don’t see the logic of it, and I thinkthat we all know that any effort to amendthe bill at this point is essentially to kill thebill,” he said before the Senate yesterday.“It may look like a placebo, but it is a poi-son pill and I would urge the supporters of
Same-sex marriage could be stalled
Senators await attorney general’sstance before expanding Good Sam
BY YASMEEN ABUTALEBSenior staff writer
Although student activistssubmitted a proposal nearlythree months ago to extendthis university’s alcoholamnesty policy to alsoinclude drugs, they’ve nowfound the legislation indefi-nitely stalled while they waitfor the state attorney generalto issue an opinion.
The university’s Legal AidOffice first requested an opin-ion from Attorney GeneralDoug Gansler’s office in
November, after undergradu-ate student senator BrandonLevey proposed extending theGood Samaritan policy —which protects dangerouslydrunk students from universitysanctions if they call 911 forthemselves or a friend — toinclude drugs. But afterGansler’s office failed to deliverits recommendation in time foryesterday’s Senate ExecutiveCommittee meeting, memberswill have to wait at least anothermonth until its next meeting in
SGA calls for future same-dayvoter registration legislation
The Student Government Association voted last night in favor of encouraging lawmakers to establish legislation allowing same-day voter registration to make voting easier. SU HONG/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK
New reusable diningcontainer use grows
BY ALLISON GRAYStaff writer
To reduce waste in dininghalls across the campus, Din-ing Services officials beganoffering students reusablecontainers last semester —and have seen the number ofstudents using the contain-ers surge since launchingthe initiative.
At the start of the program,officials said they saw a fewhundred OZZI containersused each week, but lastweek, students used morethan 1,300 containers in theNorth Campus Diner. Onaverage, officials said, the
number of containers in usehas increased by about 200per week since the start of thesemester — a figure thatexceeded their expectations.
“It’s really exciting for us,”Dining Services SustainabilityCoordinator Allison Lilly said.
Dining Services kick-started the pilot shortly afterThanksgiving, and the pro-gram began at the start ofthis semester.
Students pay a $5 fee forthe first container. After that,students return the contain-ers to the OZZI machines andreceive a token, enabling
More than 1,300 used last week
Body wants lawmakers to introduce bill soonto make voting easier for student population
BY LEAH VILLANUEVASenior staff writer
Although it’s too late to pass same-dayvoter registration in time for the upcomingpresidential election, SGA members lastnight called on state lawmakers to introducefuture legislation that would allow state vot-ers to register on Election Day.
The state legislature is currently not consid-ering any state bill regarding same-day voterregistration, but the Student GovernmentAssociation voted 20-0 with one abstention tocall for the Maryland General Assembly to
introduce and pass same-day registration in afuture session. The SGA also pledged to lobbyfor this before legislators when they travel toAnnapolis for Terrapin Pride Day on Monday,arguing that such legislation would opendoors for many more students to participate.
“Just because this isn’t something that’sgoing to happen this year doesn’t mean weshould not acknowledge it and make astatement about it,” said sponsor and artsand humanities legislator Mace Phillips.“This has gained a lot of attention in the
ED REILLYSTATE SENATOR
see MARRIAGE, page 2
see EXTENSION, page 3
see CONTAINERS, page 3
see VOTING, page 3
Winds of changeBY CHAD SINCLAIR
Staff writer
Against the fitting backdrop of a clearsky and strong breeze, about a dozenMaryPIRG members rallied at the State-house yesterday to support offshore windenergy legislation.
The students, along with representa-tives from 13 other colleges, constituted acrowd of about 80 activists who attended aLobby Day in Annapolis to voice their sup-
port for the Maryland Offshore WindEnergy Act — a bill that would incentivizedevelopment of more green offshoreenergy sources — and to speak directlywith state legislators.
Gov. Martin O’Malley told the crowd,many of whom were armed with spinningcardboard windmills and pro-wind energysigns, that he backs the bill.
“We’re here because we understand
Group lobbies for Offshore Wind Energy Act
Gov. Martin O’Malley speaks tostudents lobbying for a windenergy bill. PHOTOS BY CHARLIE
DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK
The Senate Executive Committee is waiting to hear fromAttorney General Doug Gansler before expanding the GoodSamaritan policy to include drugs. FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK
see ENERGY, page 2
2 THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012
SENIOR GRADUATION PORTRAITS
The 2012 TERRAPIN YEARBOOK, in association with Herff-Jones Studios, will be takinggraduation portraits the week of February 20-24, 2012.
Although it is TOO LATE for these pictures to be included inthe 2012 TERRAPIN, many of you called to request this portraitsession.
There is absolutely NO cost or obli-gation on your part. Several poseswill be taken, both with and with-out cap and gown, if you prefer.You will then have an opportunityto purchase portraits at a reason-able charge.
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DATES:February 20-24, 2012
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TIME:11am-7pm
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School code: 87101
this legislation to resist it.”But many lawmakers said
they still expect the bill to passand do not believe an amend-ment would change any legisla-tive votes. Senate PresidentMike Miller (D-Calvert andPrince George’s) said he does-
n’t “anticipate a single vote haschanged” since last legislativesession’s 25-21 Senate vote.
Frosh, however, said amend-ments would threaten the bill’sfuture by making it go through aHouse vote a second time; hesaid he expects favorable resultsin the Senate.
“I’m certainly hoping thatwe’re not going to adopt any
amendments,” he said. “I thinkwe have the votes as long asnobody gets sick.”
Frosh added he believes pas-sage of the bill is an importantmeasure for equality.
“In a couple of years it willbe very clear that it’s verymainstream,” he said. “I thinkpeople will look back on thedebate today in 10 years,
maybe five years, and ask,‘what were they thinking?’”
Raskin said because the billhas been amended to addressreligious concerns of many law-makers who feared such legisla-tion would force churches to rec-ognize same-sex unions, it war-rants passage.
“It provides that no church andno church-operated institution
will ever be required to solem-nize, celebrate or promote anymarriage that it chooses not to forreligious reasons,” he said.
He added he believes it is aright that should be afforded tothousands of residents who arecurrently ineligible for more than400 benefits and more than 1,000federal benefits.
“The Supreme Court has said
that deadbeat fathers have a rightto marry, mass murderers ondeath row have a right to marry,people who just met on WhoWants to Marry a Millionairehave the right to marry,” he said.“Yet there are tens of thousandsof our constituents who still can-not marry.”
MARRIAGEfrom page 1
there is a connection betweenwhat we do or fail to do in onegeneration and the life that willbe enjoyed by the next,” O’Mal-ley said. “Thank you for push-ing us to do what’s right notonly for the next election, butalso for the next generation.”
The Energy InformationAdministration estimates thebill — which would incentivizethe development of between 50and 100 wind turbines thatwould generate up to 500megawatts of offshore windcapacity — would createenough energy to power halfthe homes on the state’s east-
ern shore or more than a thirdof the homes in Baltimore City.Currently, there are no off-shore wind farms operating inNorth America.
The act will be discussed at aHouse hearing this afternoon.However, O’Malley was quickto point out yesterday that whilethe long-term benefits of off-shore wind energy are signifi-cant, the project will not moveas fast as some would hope.
“Once you make the invest-ment, once you make thechoice, nature keeps givingyou the resource for free,”O’Malley said. “It won’t hap-pen overnight, but we canmake it happen.”
MaryPIRG campaign coordi-nator Sam Rivers helped organ-
ize yesterday’s rally, in conjunc-tion with Maryland Student Cli-mate Coalition and the Chesa-peake Climate Action Network,as part of its renewable windenergy initiative.
David Bransfield, MaryPIRG’schapter chairman, said the cam-paign is more than just lobbyingand rallying.
“When we have kids, thiscampaign will have affectedtheir lives,” he said last weekat the organization’s kick-offmeeting. “We can’t let thestate die.”
Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery) said citizensmust educate themselves on thedetriments of fossil-fuel energyto make an informed choiceabout supporting the legislation.
“We have to decide if wewant to keep our homesheated and our lights turnedon by continuing to use dirtyfossil fuels that harm theenvironment and create pub-lic health concerns, or investin offshore wind energy thatwill create jobs, help us meetour long-term energy goalsand allow us to lessen theimpact of climate change,”Mizeur said.
However, several organiza-tions, including the state’sChamber of Commerce, theMaryland Conservation Coun-cil and the Maryland FarmBureau, oppose the bill, whichdid not pass in the last legisla-tive session because of con-cerns that offshore wind farms
would be too costly an under-taking for many utility compa-nies. Consumers would alsolikely see their electricity ratesincrease, although the bill capsincreases at $2 a month.
CCAN Campus OrganizerMegan Jenny said it is stillimportant for the state toinvest in wind energy to even-tually eliminate petroleum.
“You can only fight againstdirty fossil fuels for so longwithout having an alterna-tive,” Jenny said. “Offshorewind is the best alternativefor Maryland.”
She said her focus now is onexpanding CCAN’s efforts touniversities that have not yetthrown their support behindrenewable wind energy.
“We are still working oncampuses to convince presi-dents and administrators tosupport offshore wind,” Jennysaid. “Campuses are hugeenergy customers, so hearingfrom them means a lot.”
Del. Ben Barnes (D-AnneArundel and Prince George’s)said the only way that invest-ment will happen is if the pro-ject’s supporters continue todevelop new ideas.
“We’ve got to be peoplewho continue to think big,”he said. “Unless we startdown this road and helpencourage this kind of tech-nology, we’re never going toget there.”
Members of MaryPIRG, alongside students from 13 other universities, lobbied in Annapolis yesterday afternoon for legislation encouraging wind-energy projects. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK
ENERGYfrom page 1
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK 3
BY ERIN EGANSenior staf f writer
After a student reported analleged assault on Feb. 16 nearStadium Drive Garage, policedetermined that the assaultnever occurred.
A student reported that,while walking to his EllicottHall dorm, he passed anunknown silver vehicleparked outside of the garagewith a male passenger insidethe car pointing a gun at him,University Police spokesmanCapt. Marc Limansky said.But after police identified the
vehicle and interviewed itsowner and the passenger,they determined there werenever any firearms involved.
Police labeled the incidentas unfounded, meaning anevent did not happen the wayit was originally reported,Limansky said.
Although Limansky saidthe victim agreed with theconclusion of the case, headded, “We have no reason tobelieve that the victim does-n’t believe what he saw. Hedidn’t make up a story and lieabout it.”
Police tracked down the
owner of the vehicle usingsecurity camera footage,Limansky said. Investigatorsfound license plate and taginformation from footage of asilver car driving onto the cam-pus at a time matching the stu-dent’s report. Police then inter-viewed the female owner andthe passenger of the car — thepassenger was a university stu-dent — to determine theevents of that night. Theowner said she was parked out-side of the garage because sheand the passenger were tryingto decide whether they shouldpark there.
Police also photographedthe car to show to the victim,who confirmed it was the samevehicle he saw last week.
The alleged incident wasreported to police 19 hoursafter it happened, andLimansky said althoughpolice were able to solve thiscase, it is always better toreport incidents soonerrather than later.
“It’s just always more ben-eficial when people reportthings in a more timely man-ner,” he said.
Univ. Police report no gun pointed atstudent in alleged assault last weekPolice found suspect using security camera footage, determined nofirearms involved in case; label incident as ‘unfounded’
state legislature because ofthe coming election, so wehave to make this a priorityin Annapolis for when thetime does come that it actu-ally happens.”
Student leaders notedstates that already havesame-day registration lawssaw an upsurge in participa-tion among young voters, anda California Institute of Tech-nology study estimates 9.1percent more young people(ages 18 to 25) vote in states
with these laws in place.However, the issue does
not come without opposition,and SGA members noted ithad been struck down in thestate legislature severaltimes in previous years.
“It’s very controversialbecause some people saythere are issues of voterfraud,” SGA Director of Gov-ernmental Affairs ZachCohen said in an interviewbefore the meeting. “But thequestions that lawmakershave to answer is, is that areal problem, and do the ben-efits of enabling college peo-ple to vote outweigh the riskof voter fraud?”
Members of this university’schapter of MaryPIRG will alsoadvocate for same-day registra-tion during this legislative ses-sion. MaryPIRG chapter Chair-man David Bransfield said theissue directly affects students,especially first-time voters, andthat prohibiting them to voteon election day bars them fromtheir rights to participate inopen government.
“I’m constantly told that stu-dents are out of touch, don’twant to be involved, and I don’tbelieve that’s true,” Bransfieldsaid. “Our goal is for studentsto feel like the people inAnnapolis represent them, andthis is something that would
help us reach that goal.”SGA legislators also
wrapped up the stances forwhich they will lobby state leg-islators Monday, voting unani-mously to back a proposedstatewide five-cent disposablebag tax; a proposed require-ment for state high schools toinclude a half-year financial lit-eracy course in the curriculum;and a proposed two-week taxholiday on textbook salesbefore each fall semester. Lastweek, the body had also votedto support same-sex marriageand the Maryland WindEnergy Act.
VOTINGfrom page 1
At its meeting last night, the Student Government Association discussed lobbying state lawmakers for a bill that would allowresidents to register to vote on an election day, which legislators said would increase voter participation. SU HONG/THE DIAMONDBACK
them to continue using thereusable containers.
While officials initiallyordered 1,000 containers, theprogram’s popularityprompted Dining Services toorder about 1,000 more to addto the machines yesterday.
Since Dining Services usesabout a million disposablecontainers per year, Lilly saidshe hopes to see the programcontinue growing to promotemore sustainable dining —especially with more than8,000 students on meal plans.For now, the number of dis-pensers and containers offi-cials place in dining halls aredetermined by how often stu-dents choose to use them,Lilly said.
“The whole program is verynew,” she said. “[As] peoplestart seeing about it, learningmore about it, they becomemore interested in trying it out.”
To reward students usingthe containers, Lilly said din-ing officials hope to allowstudents to return their
token at the end of thesemester so they do not haveto worry about losing it overthe summer.
Officials said they plan toconduct a study in the com-ing months to compare thenumber of disposable con-tainers used before and afterthe program to see how suc-cessful the OZZI containershave been in reducing cam-pus waste.
Although students have topay to begin using the OZZIcontainers, freshman lettersand sciences major NusheenMajidi said they eventuallyend up costing students less,since disposable containerscost 25 cents each time they’repurchased.
“Eventually it’s cheaper,and that’s a bonus of beinggreen,” she said.
Megan Beveridge, a fresh-man architecture major, saidpurchasing the containershelps her live more sustainably.
“I’ve always kind of been anenvironmentalist, so I just feelbetter about using them thanthe plastic ones,” she said.
CONTAINERSfrom page 1
March before moving forwardwith the policy.
“It’s just unfortunate that it’sbeen held up for so long be-cause they’re waiting for theMaryland attorney general togive his opinion and thoughtson it,” Levey said. “This is suchan important policy.”
Senate Chairman Eric Ka-sischke said senators need tounderstand all of the legal im-plications associated with craft-ing such a policy. The senatehas proceeded with con-tentious legislation without theattorney’s recommendation inthe past, Kasischke said, onlyto have to revise the legislation.
“[The attorney’s opinion] isnot required, but on the otherhand, the committee could bedoing a lot of work that wouldlater be rendered moot by theattorney general,” he said. “Un-less the committee actually un-derstands all of the relevant in-formation needed to considerthe charge, they could be wast-ing their time.”
Gansler could not be reachedfor comment yesterday.
Students initially pushed foran all-inclusive Good Samaritanpolicy when they began lobby-ing four years ago, but focusedtheir efforts on getting an alco-hol policy passed. After the sen-ate voted to approve the policyin March, activists immediatelymobilized to update the policy— and now fear losing momen-tum in passing such legislation.
Levey contacted the Board ofRegents — a 17-member govern-ing body that oversees the Uni-versity System of Maryland —before submitting his proposaland received the OK to forgeahead with the policy.
Although Kasischke is stand-ing firm on waiting for Gansler’sopinion before moving forward,he said he strongly supportsLevey’s proposal and hopes to setit in motion as soon as possible.
“We seem to be stuck at astandpoint,” Kasischke said.
“That really bothers us, but onthe other hand, we can’t chargea committee on a proposal likethis that has some legal ramifi-cations to it without really un-derstanding what those are.”
Although about 50 universi-ties across the country haveimplemented an all-inclusivepolicy — including the Univer-sity of Georgia, University ofIowa, Washington College inMaryland, William and Maryand Tulane, according to uni-versity websites — Kasischkesaid there are various statelaws that prevent the universityfrom simply following suit.
The Student Government As-sociation threw its support be-hind implementing an all-inclu-sive Good Samaritan policyshortly after Levey submittedhis proposal last semester. SGAPresident Kaiyi Xie said since itwould only prevent studentsfrom university punishment —and not legal trouble — the uni-versity should adopt the policy.
“The senate wouldn’t get ridof the fact that drugs arebanned, but if we remove someof the barriers for students po-tentially calling for help … cer-tainly it’s a very helpful thing tostudents to reduce the numberof potential worries they mayhave in calling for help,” he said.
To rally student support andpressure the senate to moveforward, members of Studentsfor Sensible Drug Policy havebeen passing around a petitionand have gathered hundreds ofstudent signatures, treasurerNick Rosenberg said.
Kasischke said although thelegislation has been stalled forat least another month, he isstill optimistic the senate willreview the policy and deter-mine the best course of action.
“Personally, I support the poli-cy; whether or not the senatesupports it, I don’t know,” he said.“I understand the importance ofwhat Brandon has proposed, butwe deal with the system, not anideal world where you say ‘Thisneeds to be done.’”
EXTENSIONfrom page 1
Student Government Association President Kaiyi Xie (above)said he, along with the majority of the SGA, support extendingan alcohol amnesty policy. FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK
0pinion 3150 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL | COLLEGE PARK, MD 20742
[email protected] | [email protected]
The career fair is coming to anend. Your pitch for a job waseither a huge success or anepic waste of time, or maybe
you decided to avoid the impendingdoom of picking a career completely,like I did. But realistically, my gradua-tion clock is ticking and I’m psychingmyself up for the anticipated awesome-ness of post-graduation. Because, ohyeah, life goes on.
It took me a while to accept thephrase “I’m graduating.” I chose not todiscuss it with friends, probablybecause I don’t want to believe it —I’m sentimental about endings. Spend-ing half of my week interning in Wash-ington now, I’m toeing the linebetween college life and the antici-pated real world. I refuse to believegraduating implies a life of meaning-less existence just because I can’tparty like it’s 1999 anymore.
We must realize the college experi-ence is a bubble: a safe place to grow,explore and change. It’s a time when wecan still make dumb mistakes and (usu-
ally) get away with them. By the timeyou graduate, hopefully you’ve gainedenough knowledge of life skills throughexperiences in the past four years tomature into the adulthood phase of life.If you haven’t done so yet, start thinkingabout it: Because whether we like it ornot, we outgrow the institutional safetynet of the college incubator.
By now, I’m digging the idea of grad-uation. It’s a mark of accomplishmentand anticipated excitement that the funwon’t stop after college.
Considering life after college — andthe blissful possibilities — is a good wayto break out of the mid-semester dol-drums. Earning a salary sounds like thebest part of all. Unfortunately for thoselike me who think they can make a liv-ing traveling the world on a wad of cash,or are continuing to rack up debt ingraduate school, this doesn’t apply now.But for those of you who are career-driven individuals, your salary can nowfinance your lavish hobbies, classydates and social life. You can use yourhard-earned salary to fund post-work
happy hours that start at 5 p.m. Yoursalary will even cover paid vacation timeto sit on a yacht, sunbathing in theCaribbean. At work, you can prank yourcohorts (with discretion), just as youdid to your college roommates. If you’relucky, you’ll get to travel and eat steakdinners — all on the work tab. After col-lege, video games will still exist, andmaybe you’ll even have enough moneyto upgrade to a classier couch.
But post-college life does have itspitfalls. Bills to pay, early morningalarm clocks and — most annoyingly— the non-stop solicitations fromorganizations such as the alumni asso-ciation, which think your bankaccount suddenly turns to gold uponleaving this university.
Putting it all in perspective, post-col-lege life doesn’t sound that bad. Youdon’t peak in college, and if you thinkyou did, then you have many self-pity-ing years ahead. You’ll break out of yourshell, find a new niche and, if you’resavvy, make new friends. The learningcontinues, and life’s choices and oppor-tunities open up. After all, for those whocare, alcohol will still be there. In fact, itmay even be free at the annual officeChristmas party.
I’m midway through my final semes-ter of college, and each day I inhale theessence of college life: Seven floors oflibrary books, a bustling student union,chants at basketball games, the awningof McKeldin Mall trees and, of course,tons of learning. I look around realizingmy college time has almost passed as Ieagerly anticipate the end of my home-work days.
Jennifer Schwarz is a seniorenvironmental science and policy major.She can be reached [email protected].
YOUR INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARKPHONE: (301) 314-8200 | FAX: (301) 314-8358
THE DIAMONDBACK LAUREN REDDINGEDITOR IN CHIEF
I t hasn’t been an easy ride the last four years for student activists supporting theGood Samaritan policy. When students first introduced the legislation — whichprotects dangerously drunk students from university sanctions if they call 911for themselves or a friend — in 2007, they proposed a policy that would include
both alcohol and drug use. The latter was quickly shot down, so students regroupedand focused on an alcohol policy. After four years and intense lobbying by studentswho refused to give up, the University Senate passed it.
The fight isn’t over for students, however. They’re backto fulfill the goals of the original proposal and extend thepolicy to include drug use. This time around, the debate iseven more complicated. Because drug use is illegal at anyage, the legal implications of such a policy are extensiveand students are possibly facing another four-year fight justto extend the original bill.
The legislation has been sitting in the senate’s StudentExecutive Committee for three months. Students hold themajority on the committee, and all five of them — includingfour undergraduates and one graduate student — support it,meaning it should be a breeze to pass. But because the com-mittee refuses to move forward without a statement of support from state AttorneyGeneral Douglas Gansler — who has yet to respond three months after an opinionwas requested — the legislation is stalled indefinitely.
For the record, this editorial board fully endorses extending the policy to includedrug use. It’s the logical next step in ensuring the university upholds student safetyabove anything else. It wouldn’t be a revolutionary policy, either; major state institu-tions such as the University of Georgia, the University of Iowa (university PresidentWallace Loh’s former school) and Tulane University all have inclusive Good Samari-tan policies. Senate chair Eric Kasischke has stated that because this state has its ownspecific laws, the university can’t simply follow suit.
However, considering Washington College in this state also has a similar policy,this editorial board finds it hard to believe Gansler would deny the state’s flagshipuniversity the right to implement such legislation while another in-state institutionalready has one in place. It doesn’t seem to be a question of what Gansler will say,but when he will ultimately say it.
He doesn’t have the greatest track record with responding to university requests ina speedy fashion. In 2008, the university told a group of student journalists it wouldnot disclose the names of students convicted of sexual assault, citing a federal privacyact. The journalists worked with a local state delegate to request an opinion fromGansler just a few months later; they didn’t receive one until April 2010.
After Gansler ruled in the students’ favor, the university was forced to complywith their request and release the information. The stu-dent journalists’ case is similar to the first round of GoodSamaritan debates; both are now considered success sto-ries for undergraduates because of the incredible devotionstudents showed, with upperclassmen passing the torchonto younger activists when they graduated to ensure thecause didn’t die.
Similar tactics need to be implemented now, given it’sunclear when Gansler will issue an opinion. Undergraduatestudent senator and senior Brandon Levey, currently leadingthe fight for an all-inclusive policy, has done a commendablejob bringing the issue up this semester. But it’s unlikely he’llsee it pass before he’s graduated. Levey needs to rely heavily
on the Students for Sensible Drug Policy — a group instrumental in seeing throughthe first Good Samaritan policy — to establish a lineage of student support that willlast long after he’s gone.
Furthermore, senators and student activists should use this waiting time wisely to ed-ucate the entire university on the importance of such legislation. When the first legisla-tion passed, former Student Conduct Director John Zacker credited much of its successto the overwhelming student voice in favor of such a policy. Students conducted inter-views and surveys to gauge the university’s opinion on the matter; not surprisingly, be-cause it centered around saving students’ lives, most were in favor of it.
But this time around, with a more controversial policy dealing with drugs, the sen-ate will likely need more swaying. Undergraduates need to gather sufficient data toprove once again how wholeheartedly the university community values such policies.Once Gansler OKs the legislation, senators will be able to immediately mobilize andhave a fighting chance at getting the policy passed. It’s already been four years — it’stime to approve the original Good Samaritan proposal once and for all.
Staff editorial
Our ViewWhile waiting for AttorneyGeneral Douglas Gansler’s
opinion on extending GoodSamaritan to include druguse, senators should workto educate the study body.
Post-graduation: A blissful future
One year ago this week,the Terrapins men’s bas-ketball team put forth itsmost impressive per-
formance of a disappointing season.It rallied to defeat Florida State atComcast Center with an inspired per-formance, putting itself squarely inthe hunt for a postseason berth. Butwhat people will remember aboutthat night, coming on the heels of alosing effort against Duke, was thatfor one of the first times since Com-cast Center opened in 2002, the stu-dent section was visibly not full for anACC game during the semester. Peo-ple were shocked to see only about75 percent of the available studentseats were taken.
Fast forward a year. On Tuesday,the Terps defeated Miami in one oftheir most complete performances ofthe year. The students who werethere were treated to a gritty andinspired victory over a more talentedteam, coached by a college basketballlegend. However, it appeared to methat students only occupied about1,000 of the 4,000 available seats. Theentire “wall” was almost empty.
Comcast Center has long beenone of the most intimidating placesto play in the entire country. But notthis year. It’s not even close. Theculture at this university has shiftedin the last several years from a “bas-ketball school” where studentsshow up in force to every homegame to a school whose studentsthink the season only has one gamethat matters (the Duke game).
I’ve heard a number of excuses forwhy students aren’t showing up any-more. One of the most common is “theteam isn’t that good this year.” Guesswhat? The team is 13-3 at home thisyear. I repeat: 13-3. Another one is, “Ihave too much work.” Well, students atthis university did work between 2002and 2010 and somehow they still man-aged to fill Comcast for most games.Taking three hours out of your daytwice a week to go to a basketballgame is not going to make or breakyour semester, trust me. It’s also notgoing to make or break your ability toparty either; the games are done inplenty of time to get to Route 1.
The truth is, I don’t think any ofthose reasons are why the studentbody has become apathetic aboutbasketball. Attendance is downacross the ACC for reasons nobodycan really explain. College basketballis one of the most incredible, reward-ing experiences you can be a part ofat the university. Give it a shot. Youdon’t know how lucky you are to goto a school with a historic ACC bas-ketball program.
In college basketball, home-courtadvantage is incredibly important.The home team has won 60 percentof all ACC games this year, and thatpercentage is higher at schools withdevoted student sections. Your partic-ipation helps the team. Duke playersthis year said Comcast was the hard-est place for them to play because ofthe students. It used to be every teamsaid that, but now the students onlycome for Duke. I encourage you all tovisit www.betterterps.com, a websitethat acknowledges the issue of declin-ing attendance and has set out to edu-cate students on the rich history ofthe basketball program.
The Terrapins’ final home game isMarch 4 against Virginia. Go screamand jump for two hours. It’s a nicestudy break, and you’ll feel better. Seewhat you’ve been missing all year.Support Sean Mosley and BerendWeijs on senior night. Mark Turgeonis more loveable than Randy “Ran-goon” Edsall anyway.
Casey Anis is a 2011 graduate of theuniversity. He can be reached [email protected].
A long-overdue extension
THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 20124
Guest column
PPOOLLIICCYY:: Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinions of the authors. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback’s editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.
Dismalstudentsupport
Editorial cartoon: Joey Lockwood
ALEX KNOBELMANAGING EDITOR
TYLER WEYANTDEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
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MARIA ROMASASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR
AIR YOUR VIEWSAddress your letters or guestcolumns to Maria Romas andChristopher Haxel at [email protected]. All lettersand guest columns must besigned. Include your fullname, year, major and day-and night-time phone num-bers. Please limit letters to 300words and guest columns tobetween 500 and 600 words.Submission of a letter or guestcolumn constitutes an exclu-sive, worldwide, transferablelicense to The Diamondbackof the copyright of the mate-rial in any media. The Dia-mondback retains the right toedit submissions for contentand length.
When the House of Dele-gates passed Gov. Mar-tin O’Malley’s CivilMarriage Protection
Act, I was elated and filled with glee.After two years of lobbying, phonebanking and impassioned pleas fromLGBT and allied communities, Mary-land is soon set to live up to its “FreeState” moniker. However, I was curi-ous to see how Del. Sam Arora (D-Montgomery), a freshman represen-tative, voted on the bill.
During his 2010 campaign, Aroraraked in campaign donations fromarea progressives, many of whom hemet while working on Hillary Clinton’s2008 presidential campaign. In a sur-vey by Equality Maryland, Aroradeclared he would co-sponsor civilmarriage legislation. Yet, during lastyear’s legislative session, Arora back-tracked and withdrew his co-sponsor-ship of the bill.
Due to the fact marriage equalityproponents had to pull the bill from
consideration, Arora was given a life-line: He would have nearly an entireyear to rethink his position on same-sex marriage. Over the past week,Arora reportedly received phone callsfrom O’Malley, former President BillClinton and former DemocraticNational Committee chairman TerryMcAuliffe. A www.change.org petitionfor Arora to vote for marriage equalityreceived thousands of signatures. IfArora wanted to change his vote, hisjilted supporters and MontgomeryCounty Democrats would’ve greetedhim with hesitant, but open, arms.
But he didn’t change his position,and what makes Arora’s betrayal stingeven more is that we’ve seen coura-
geous legislators in conservative dis-tricts support marriage equality. Lastsummer in New York, we saw Republi-can legislators who voted at great polit-ical risk for marriage equality. So, afterArora almost derailed passage in theHouse of Delegates, he deserves to bethrown out of office when he faces re-election in 2014.
Arora may think voters have shortmemories, and indeed that’s typicallytrue for some general election voters.But Arora shouldn’t necessarily beworried about the general election —he should worry about the Democraticprimary because his district in Mont-gomery County is royal blue. Primaryelections are filled with party activistswho closely follow day-to-day politics.
In the aftermath of Arora’s decisionto vote “no” on the Civil Marriage Pro-tection Act, Arora’s legislative director,Joshua Lapidus, resigned in protestover his employer’s decision. Accord-ing to the Washington Blade, Lapiduswrote, “It saddens me that you are
standing against the tide of history andending your career over an issue thatwill no doubt be decided in the affirma-tive, with or without your vote, over thenext couple years.”
Years ago, before the netroots andsocial media were prominent in poli-tics, Arora’s betrayal would’ve beenunknown to those who don’t follow theminutiae of legislation and politicalleaders. However, in today’s world ofChange petitions, Twitter feeds andFacebook pages, there’s nowhere forcowardly politicians to hide. Everypolitical issue has dedicated bloggerswho closely follow political develop-ments. In short, Arora isn’t going toget away with his betrayal.
When you spurn O’Malley, Clintonand McAuliffe, there isn’t really a placefor you in the Democratic Party. Solong, farewell, we needn’t say goodbye.
Matt Arnstine is a junior governmentand politics major. He can be reached [email protected].
SSCCHHWWAARRZZJJEENNNNIIFFEERR
AARRNNSSTTIINNEEMMAATTTT
Sam Arora: So long, farewell
Born today, you are a good-humored individual and ableto speak and listen well as
the situation requires. You are notone of those who feels that a con-versation is lacking if you do notcontribute your own opinions orpoint of view; on the contrary, youare far more interested in thethoughts and ideas that othershave than in anything you mightbe able to offer — though your of-ferings are never less than anyoneelse’s, and you do have confidencein your thoughts, words and ac-tions. When facing a problem, younever act until you have deter-mined the best possible course ofaction; you are not impulsive inany way.
Once you have made a friend,you can count on that person beinga friend for life — even if distanceor circumstances should separateyou for long periods of time. Youare the kind for whom time doesn’tdiminish friendships; even aftermonths or years, a reunion feels asthough you were together onlyyesterday.
Also born on this date are:Dakota Fanning, actress; HowardJones,singer,songwriter and musi-cian; Peter Fonda, actor; VictorFleming, director; George FridericHandel, composer.
To see what is in store for youtomorrow, find your birthday andread the corresponding para-graph. Let your birthday star beyour daily guide.
FRIDAY,FEBRUARY 24
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) —You don’t want to jump to con-clusions today; wait until youhave received all available in-formation before passing judg-ment.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) —You may be surprised by how
quickly the hours pass today,even though you are not as in-volved as you expected to be.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) —Someone can help you from afartoday thanks to technologicaladvances — and a little goodluck. Keep lines of communica-tion open at all times.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) —Information that comes to you islikely to affect you in a mannernot expected by those who havebeen in your position before.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) —It is important that you think foryourself and draw your ownconclusions today. Do not, how-ever, be contrary just to be con-trary!
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — Thepredictions that others sharewith you may get you thinking— but you’ll stop short of mak-ing any predictions of your own.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) —Studying will help you getthrough a tough time today.After that, you can use what youknow to help someone else inneed.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) —You cannot believe what yourdreams have been telling you —and yet every day you are facedwith more evidence that con-firms them.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Aroutine development may meanmore today than expected,thanks to the involvement of thenew kid on the block.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)— An accident of some kind maychange the course of your daymore significantly than you areable to anticipate. Be ready toadjust.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)— You may want to let thingssettle down a bit before youspeak your mind — especially atthe workplace.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) —You may have to work harderthan usual to keep up with theday’s developments. A memberof your immediate family holdsan important key.
COPYRIGHT 2012UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.
ACROSS1 Is introduced6 Turkish coin10 — majeste14 Nepal neighbor15 Pharaoh’s god16 Black-hearted17 Red Sonja ally18 Equinox mo.19 Sees the point of20 Fully conscious21 Quislings23 Eyebrow or
rainbow25 Freud, to himself26 “— — a Male
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way back3 Best or Ferber4 Diadems5 More feasible6 Keep on going7 Old Roman road8 Fix9 Prank10 Engineering toy11 — so much12 Watches the kids13 Metro RRs22 Sharp blow24 Barbecue
pit need26 Corn Belt dweller27 Put pen to paper28 Main artery30 CAT scan relative31 Egyptian amulets33 “What’s that?”34 Teed off35 Of few words36 “— Gantry”
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purchase42 Poet’s dusk47 Kohl target
48 Shallow lake50 Mosey along52 “48 Hrs.” lead53 Opera by Verdi54 Brief upturn
55 Arm bone56 Repute57 Larger — life59 Fontanne’s
husband
60 Dueler’s blade61 Novelist
Earl — Biggers62 “Garfield” guy
COLLEGE INTUITION RICHIE BATES
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DiversionsONLINE EXCLUSIVES:
This weekend holds many delights for music fans. Tonight, Guns N’ Roses (left)plays at the Fillmore Silver Spring. On The Diamondback’s website, read about theband’s lasting impact on staff writer Kaitlin Bulavinetz. Bulavinetz also previewsa Friday show at the Strathmore in Rockville with the Junkyard Saints, a seven-
piece zydeco band. Staff writer Beena Raghavendran talks with some of the folksbehind the DC Bluegrass Union’s third annual DC Bluegrass Festival, which takesplace tomorrow and Saturday at the College Park Holiday Inn. For the full stories,
just click the Diversions tab at: WWW.DIAMONDBACKONLINE.COMarts. music. living. movies. weekend.FACE OFF | ACADEMY AWARDS
STUCK IN THE MIDDLEIn the last few years, the Academy Awards have tried to capture formerly alienatedviewers by making changes to the broadcast show and expanding the Best Picture
category. Are the awards still relevant or even worth watching this Sunday?BY DEAN ESSNERFor The Diamondback
The Academy Awards are like an old couchat your grandpa’s house: dusty, full of traditionand undeniably lovable. There’s somethingtimelessly American about watching a roomfull of celebrities joke about each other whilehanding out giant, golden statues as tokens ofreward. And while we may scowl at MerylStreep’s shameless self-depreciation or GeorgeClooney’s never-ending smirk, we can smile atone simple fact of life: These idiots give usmovies, the undeniable breadth of modern art.
Not to mention, the Oscars usually deliversolid nominations — despite critical damna-
tion. Allright, soExtremelyLoud &IncrediblyClose is athrowaway
choice when either Drive, Bridesmaids or TheGirl With The Dragon Tattoo would have madea fine Best Picture nominee. But, the otherfilms — especially Martin Scorsese’s touchingHugo, Terrence Malik’s polarizing The Tree ofLife and Alexander Payne’s quiet and poignantThe Descendants — are phenomenal movies.Seeing them get such recognition is both awonderful tribute to the vitality of the films andthe vitality of the Academy, which had the goodsense to pick these excellent pictures.
On the whole, though, the Oscars are prettystraightforward. There’s little below the sur-face to chew on, which may be a turn-off. Whenviewed in comparison to other awards shows,they lack the corporatism of the Grammys, theboozy antics of the Golden Globes, the serioustone of the Primetime Emmys or the overtplayfulness of the Tonys. The Oscars have theadvantage of awarding an art form that can beless subjective than music, theater or even tel-evision. Good movies are good movies. Badmovies are bad movies. It’s all relatively plainand uncomplicated.
Therefore, tuning in on Sunday night is asafe bet for solid, satisfying entertainment.Even though there is no Beach Boys reunionor omnipresent champagne, the Oscars areperfectly simple: an old theater, a goofy host,your favorite conceited actors and lots and lotsof talk about really good movies.
BY WARREN ZHANGStaff writer
The Academy Awards aren’t rele-vant anymore. To prove this point,allow me to crudely (and offen-sively) split moviegoers into threebroad categories.
The first category consists of thepeople who go to the movies entirelyfor escapism. To them, movies are a
lot like popcorn: agreeably tasty whilebeing eaten, utterly devoid of nutri-tional content and completely forgot-ten after fully consumed.
This category holds the majorityof American moviegoers, and theymostly watch big blockbusters, ani-mated films, rom-coms, etc. Noth-ing wrong with that. Let’s call themthe Rockers.
The second group of people is the
hardcore cinephiles. They’re the typeof people who sneer at films withbudgets above $30 million, and whoselist of favorite movies contain only ahandful of American films. They likemovies a lot, and they watch a lot ofmovies. Call them the Mods.
And then there’s the third and lastgroup of film watchers: folks whohave more discerning taste for filmsthan the Rockers but aren’t quite asesoteric as the Mods. These peoplelike to watch movies that make themthink and feel. They’re not quiteready to fully dive into the kookyworld of subtitles, but they’re on theverge. They shall bedubbed the Proletarians.
The movies the Oscarsenjoy rarely line up withthe movies the Rockersfavor. How many block-busters have been nomi-nated for Best Picture in the pastdecade? You’ve got Avatar, Lord of theRingsand Inception. Maybe Gladiator?That’s four out of 74 nominees.
So, the Oscars don’t really have any-thing to do with mainstream entertain-ment. The Los Angeles Times recentlyfound the median age of the Academywas 62 and only 14 percent of the vot-ing body was under the age of 50. Yourdoddering old grandfather isn’t goingto have the same taste in films as you,especially if you’re a Rocker.
But even if the Rockers’ favoritefilm of the year gets nominated, every-one will have already seen it by then.The Oscars have never been relevantto the Rockers, except as, perhaps, aninteresting bit of trivia about theirfavorite movies.
The Oscars might be just slightlyless relevant to the Mods. Partiallybecause the Mods have already seenall the films nominated for Best Pic-ture, and partially because a large por-tion of the Mods are smartass cynics.
If you watch enough films to callyourself a Mod, chances are yourtaste in film is more refined anddiverse than the modern Academy’s.
When you’re a Mod, your favoritemovies aren’t likely to be recognizedby the Academy. Your favorite movies
are likely to be idiosyncratic in a waythat polarizes audiences. You mightadmire Antichrist for its brazen, geni-tal-mutilating artistic bravery orrespect the restraint and pacing ofMysteries of Lisbon.
So, for the Mods, the Oscars existsolely as a thing to bitch about.
That leaves us with the Proletari-ans. They’re the people whose tastesmost closely align with the Acad-emy’s; they like movies with depth,are accomplished but not intimidatingor abstruse enough to be off-putting.They loved The King’s Speech, and willprobably love The Artist.
They are the reasonwhy the Oscars wererelevant, and the reasonwhy the Oscars are nolonger relevant.
Before the Internetand before Rotten Toma-
toes, the Oscars were a good tool forthe Proletarians to hear about new,intriguing movies, and to provide abasis for discussing movies.
Now, with the proliferation of arm-chair film critics and Facebook,there’s no real reason to use theOscars as advice. The awards mightstill somewhat reflect your taste inmovies, and you might still watch theawards ceremony, but they’re point-less now. If you’re a Proletarian, theOscars are just a bit of movie trivia,and some form of validation for themore pretentious among them.
I’m not going to say the Oscarsshould be abolished, or even drasti-cally revised. The point of the Acad-emy Awards isn’t relevancy — they’rejust a reflection and celebration ofwhat its members (veteran filmmak-ers and some people with really goodconnections) liked and loved.
Long ago, in the past, when movieslike The Godfather were winningOscars, the Academy Awards hadsome connection to a good chunk ofsociety. Now, they’re just the reflectionof a specific, if vocal, group within soci-ety, largely detached from and uselessto the rest of us.
Our writers agree on the high quality of The Tree of Life, which isnominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. They don’t see eye-to-eye on the relevance of the awards. PHOTO COURTESY OF MOVIEWEB.COM
YES NO
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK 7
The following positions are open:
Eclipse editor-in-chiefDiamondback editor-in-chiefMitzpeh editor-in-chief
Application forms may be picked up in the Diamondback businessoffice, room 3136 South Campus Dining Hall.Applicants
will be notified of an interview time and date.
The deadline for applications is noonon Friday, February 24, 2012.
Application forms may be picked up in the Diamondback businessoffice, room 3136 South Campus Dining Hall.Applicants
will be notified of an interview time and date.
The deadline for applications is noonon Friday, February 24, 2012.
OPENINGSFOR EDITORS OFSTUDENT PUBLICATIONSMaryland Media, Inc., the independent publishing board forstudent publications on campus, is accepting applications foreditorships for the 2012-2013 school year.
OPENINGSFOR EDITORS OFSTUDENT PUBLICATIONSMaryland Media, Inc., the independent publishing board forstudent publications on campus, is accepting applications foreditorships for the 2012-2013 school year.
could not transfer, Edsall chose toallow the former Terps to pursuetheir respective futures whereverthey choose.
“While at first I thought it wasimportant to limit the institu-tions to which they could trans-fer, I have since reconsideredmy decision,” Edsall said in arelease yesterday. “At the end ofthe day, I want what’s best forthese guys and I wish them wellin their futures.
“As a program we are lookingforward to putting this distractionbehind us and to moving forward.”
It remains to be seen whetherO’Brien, the former ACC Rookieof the Year who was benched forsome of last season’s 2-10 cam-paign, will pursue a future withVanderbilt and Franklin, the manwho initially recruited him to Col-lege Park.
The Washington Post reportedyesterday that O’Brien is unlikelyat this point to visit Vanderbilt,where Franklin remains underscrutiny after the Terps filed acomplaint with the ACC and SECabout possible tampering by theCommodores staff.
Deputy Athletic DirectorNathan Pine declined to commenton any complaint filed againstFranklin, and said it was Edsall’sdecision to lift the restrictions.
“I am pleased to be able tomove on and pursue a graduatedegree and continue my athleticcareer at the school of mychoosing,” O’Brien said in therelease. “I would like to thankCoach Edsall for his supportthroughout this process.”
Other possible destinationsfor O’Brien, who has two yearsof eligibility remaining, includeFlorida, Wisconsin and PennState.
probably all year. … Guysaccepted roles tonight andthat’s really big for us.”
The win brought anoverwhelming sense ofpride to a cast of playersaccustomed to deferringto No. 12. Guard SeanMosley hit a big 3-pointerwith 1:37 left, forwardJames Padgett converteda traditional three-pointplay moments later, andFaust forced a game-changing turnover. All thiswhile their star watched insupport.
Tuesday’s gamemarked one of the firsttimes this season Stoglinhasn’t had to bear the bur-den of the team’s scoringload late in the game.Often, the sophomore hasturned to himself to pullout a victory.
His efforts were cer-tainly noted as he savedthe Terps from potentialembarrassments to non-conference foes inDecember. But all of thatwork has left Stoglinexhausted late in the sea-
son — a reason for hismissed shots Tuesday,according to Turgeon.
“He had to carry usagainst Radford, he hadto carry us against MountSt. Mary’s,” Turgeon saidof Stoglin’s efforts earlierthis year. “The kid istired. I have to get Ter-rell’s legs back under himbecause he’s way, way tooimportant.”
So Turgeon looked else-where in one of the team’sfirst marquee wins thisyear. That he foundenough help, and thatStoglin wasn’t really a partof it, stood out to playersafter the game.
“I think it pulls ustogether,” Mosley said.“Knowing that we did thisas a team makes this feelso much better. The lockerroom was unbelievable.”
“No one player can winthe game,” Padgett said.“So when he facilitates theball, everybody else canget the ball and now teamscan’t key on him. It helpsus be a better team.”
The result? The team’sbiggest win to date.
Brenda Frese and her women’sbasketball team for a victoryover Duke; a retweet of univer-sity President Wallace Loh con-gratulating Johns Hopkins onits 136th birthday; and an inspi-rational quote from AssistantAthletics Director CarrieBlankenship: “A good leader isone whom will inspire people tosee what they can be, ratherthan what they are.”
And, just yesterday at about4 p.m., “The Official MarylandWrestling Page” — quotationsincluded in the official name —uploaded 58 new photos to the“Untitled Album,” a compila-tion of pictures of family mem-bers, cheerleaders, Testudoand some wrestling action.
Redshirt sophomore JimmySheptock said the team’s Inter-net presence is essential todeveloping and sustaining afan base in a niche sport.
“A lot of fans outside of thesport, if they like the page, theycan see when the matches areand come to matches and seeus wrestle,” Sheptock said.“Everything nowadays isthrough multimedia, so it helpsget what we’re doing out to theother fans out there.”
With its regular updates andoffbeat topics, the wrestlingteam’s online profile far out-strips that of some fellowTerps programs. The gymnas-tics team has 981 Facebooklikes, the swimming and div-ing team 464 and the softballteam 761.
But for McCoy, it doesn’tstop at Facebook.
The coach himself has 1,343followers on his own personal
Twitter account (@kmac120),where he, like the team’saccount, congratulated coachMark Turgeon and the men’sbasketball team for a Tuesdaynight win and announced theTerps gymnastics team’s finalwinning score Saturday.
On top of his own Twitteraccount, McCoy also has apersonal website at www.ker-rytherealmccoy.com. The two-time Olympian and two-timeNCAA champion’s site toutsself-written essays of hisaccomplishments andwrestling videos and evenhawks T-shirts with his nameand picture for sale.
“I actually started my sitewhen I was competing,”McCoy said. “I started it as away for fundraising and for myfollowers to follow what I wasdoing. This was all beforeblogging and before Facebookand Twitter.”
McCoy added that he hasn’tupdated his site since he wasgiven the Terps’ coaching jobalmost four years ago.
And although he isn’t surehow many views his personalwebpage gets daily, McCoy’ssatisfied with how many peo-ple are seeing his Facebookand Twitter updates every day.
“We have a pretty good fol-lowing,” McCoy said. “A lot ofour followers are the othercoaches and other sportsteams here and everyoneretweets each other. We’re notsuper active in a sense that wehaven’t done Twitter chat linesand all that stuff, but every-thing we do is on our Twitterand on our Facebook, so that’swhere we’re getting theyounger crowd.”
Guard Terrell Stoglin had 20 points on 6-for-17 shooting in theTerps’ win Tuesday over Miami. JEREMY KIM/THE DIAMONDBACK
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do that. There are still three burningquestions I need answered: Why did ittake this university a week to makethis move? Why was Vanderbiltblocked for O’Brien in the first place?And was it really Edsall’s idea to giveO’Brien his full release?
In a year filled with Randy Edsallgaffes — and let’s face it, there havebeen enough to fill a SportsCenter NotTop 10 — this is likely the worst. Hedidn’t just embarrass the football pro-gram with this one. He embarrassedthe entire university.
The Washington Post. Sports Illus-trated. CBSSports.com. Name a well-regarded news outlet, and chances areit was trashing the decision. Reversingit a week later isn’t going to fix that.
It’s hard to blame them. The manwho preaches character and accounta-bility pulled the pettiest move of all ona student-athlete who has been classythroughout this entire process.
The athletics department madeO’Brien the face of the program, takinghim around the state to Terrapin Clubmeetings throughout the summer andfeaturing him in marketing campaigns.But as soon as he struggled, Edsallbenched him. He was given severalchances to voice support for his now-for-mer quarterback. He never did. Thus,O’Brien will move on.
Edsall then had the nerve to say hecouldn’t go to Vanderbilt, a programthat runs O’Brien’s preferred pro-styleoffense and one that the Terps aren’tscheduled to play.
Don’t want him to play for anotherACC school? Fine. A nonconferenceopponent the Terps are facing soon?Understandable. But Vanderbilt? Justbecause Franklin, the man whorecruited O’Brien to Maryland, iscoaching there?
It’s not head-scratching. It’s notcurious or questionable. It’s mind-blowing. They alienated the guy, basi-cally pushed him out the door andthen wanted to tell him he couldn’t gosomewhere else. The fact that Edsall,
Kevin Anderson or Wallace Loh did-n’t realize how bad this would look isincomprehensible.
Luckily, it’s been resolved. O’Briencan go wherever he pleases. Andapparently, it was Edsall who had achange of heart. But it’s hard tobelieve that the man who has been sostaunch and steadfast in his wayswould all of a sudden reverse a deci-sion on a dime like this. It had to comefrom the top.
“This was a decision reached byCoach Edsall after some reflection,”William Kirwan, chancellor of the Uni-versity System of Maryland, said in astatement to The Diamondback. “Havinglearned of the decision, I applaud it.”
Kirwan had to have gotten someheat for the debacle. This storyreceived national attention, and none
of it was positive. Even if he did makethe call to release O’Brien, he can’tadmit it. He would be underminingthe first or second most importantperson in Terps athletics.
But that might just be what hap-pened. Though Edsall has receivedconsistent support from the higher-ups, it seems this may have crackedthat foundation. There’s only so manyslip-ups a boss can take before youhave to step in. Edsall may be reachingthat threshold.
Edsall has accused Franklin andVanderbilt of tampering for having ille-gal contact with O’Brien. But moreimportant than anything Franklincould say is what Edsall did, or didn’tdo, to support O’Brien. The Com-modores coach didn’t convince Dannyto leave. Edsall did.
Vanderbilt should not matter toTerps football. But it’s obvious thatthere’s bad blood between the twoschools, specifically Edsall andFranklin. The former Terps assistantwas considered crazy after bolting forNashville. He looks brilliant now, tak-ing the long-maligned SEC doormatsto a bowl game in his first year.
It could be that Edsall is just scaredthat we’ll realize it would have beensmarter to let Franklin take over theTerps than Edsall. Too late.
Maybe O’Brien will end up at Van-derbilt. Maybe not. But if he does, it’shard to blame him. After all, it’s a bet-ter football program than the one herein College Park. And Franklin’s proba-bly a better coach.
TRANSFERSfrom page 8
Coach Randy Edsall has been widely criticized by local and national media of late. FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK
SCHNEIDERfrom page 8
STOGLINfrom page 8
SOCIALfrom page 8
Maryland Media, Inc., publishing board for the Diamondback,Eclipse, Terrapin, and Mitzpeh, has openings on its board ofdirectors for two full-time students.
The Board of Directors sets general policy, approves budgetsand selects the Editors-in-Chief for the student publications. Theterm of office is one year and begins in May, 2012. The Boardmeets about once a month during the school year.
STUDENT MEMBERS
WANTED FOR STUDENTPUBLICATIONS' BOARD
For an application, stop byroom 3136 South CampusDining Hall and askfor Maggie Levy.
Applications aredue by Friday,February 24that noon.
VOLUNTEERSNEEDEDThe Naval Medical Research Center and
the Walter Reed Army Institute ofResearch are seeking healthy adult volun-teers, male and female, to participate in a
dengue vaccine research study who:
• Are 18-50 years of age• Are not pregnant or breast-feeding• Have never had or been vaccinated
against dengue, yellow fever,or Japanese encephalitis
• Available to participate in a12 month study
Please contact the Clinical Trials Centerfor more information about the “TVDV”study. Volunteers will receive a free med-ical evaluation and financial compensation.
1-866-856-3259 (toll free)or 301-319-9320/9335
www.clinicaltrials.army.mil
8 THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012
Softball sweeps OaklandThe Terrapins softball team won both of its
games against Oakland yesterday in dominantfashion. For more, read diamondbackonline.com. Sports
BY CHRIS ECKARDSenior staff writer
Terrell Stoglin had an openingat the top of the key late Tuesdaynight, so, naturally, he rose up for a3-pointer.
Then he went another way.Nearing the top of his jump,Stoglin whipped a pass into thepost for a wide-open teammate.Instead of tossing up the 3-pointer against Miami — a lookno one would’ve argued with —the shot-happy guard set upguard Nick Faust for an easylayup on a pretty assist.
It was a telling moment for theTerrapins men’s basketball sopho-more, who doubles as the ACC’spoints leader and the team’s defacto late-game scoring option. Itwas also a surprising one in theTerps’ 75-70 cathartic win againstthe Hurricanes, with Stoglin con-tent to play a backseat role in thegame’s most crucial moments.
While the guard had a team-high20 points and attempted 17 shots,Stoglin opted against trying to takethe game over himself. In the final5:50 of play, his assists total (one, toFaust) matched his shots total.
During that stretch, his team-mates scored 20 straight points and22 of the last 26 overall.
“Coach [Mark Turgeon] hasbeen on me a lot about trusting myteammates, so I tried to do thattoday,” Stoglin said. “I feel it’s thebest win of the season because ofthe circumstances. It brought a lotof confidence.”
Said Turgeon: “For the mostpart, we really executed andshared the ball better than we have
Guard Terrell Stoglin had threeassists in the Terps’ win overMiami on Tuesday. That was hismost in more than two weeks.JEREMY KIM/THE DIAMONDBACK
MEN’S BASKETBALLFOOTBALL
see STOGLIN, page 7
BY CONOR WALSHSenior staff writer
Randy Edsall, it seems, hadheard enough.
Amid mounting criticism,the Terrapins football coachannounced yesterday that hehad decided to lift the transferrestrictions imposed on thescholarship releases of quar-terback Danny O’Brien, offen-sive lineman Max Garcia andlinebacker Mario Rowson.
When the three playersannounced their intentions totransfer Feb. 13, it soon cameto light that the team would
not allow them to transfer toan ACC school, any futureopponents or Vanderbilt, aschool the Terps haven’tplayed since 1987 and are notscheduled to play in the nearfuture. James Franklin, whotutored O’Brien as the Terps’quarterbacks coach andoffensive coordinator two sea-sons ago, is the head coach atVanderbilt.
But after local and nationalmedia roundly admonishedthe coach for stipulatingwhere the three could and
Transfer restrictionslifted after backlash
Steppingout of thespotlight
see TRANSFERS, page 7
Stoglin defers toFaust and Padgett
Quarterback Danny O’Brienis considering transferringto play at Vanderbilt. FILE
PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK
BY ERIN EGANSenior staff writer
Last week, the Terrapins wrestling team won a shareof the ACC regular-season title. Next week, it will travelto Chapel Hill, N.C., for the ACC Championships.
This week, it changed its profile picture and asked its4,090 Facebook fans and 1,412 Twitter followers to jointhem there.
With an active, engaging and oftentimes random socialmedia strategy, coach Kerry McCoy and his staff havecreated an Internet presence akin to a D-list celebrity. Ona daily basis, a wide mix of colleagues, fans, friends andfamily are treated to small bytes of information rangingfrom live updates during matches (pictures included) toannouncements of birthdays, betrothals and babies.
“Our Internet presence is supporting other organiza-tions and getting ourselves out there,” McCoy said. “Youknow, someone has a birthday, someone gets a job,someone gets promoted, all that stuff. It’s multifaceted.The biggest thing for us is to just be out there.”
Some of this week’s posts from the @UMDWrestlingTwitter account include words of congratulations to
see SOCIAL, page 7
Randy Edsall did theright thing. It justtook him more thana week to do it. Yes,
after seven days that includedseveral national columnistsabsolutely crushing him,Edsall relented and gave for-mer Terrapins football quar-terback Danny O’Brien a fullrelease from his scholarship.
The 2010 ACC Rookie ofthe Year can now go anywherehe wants to. Even ACCschools. Even schools on theTerps’ upcoming nonconfer-ence schedule.
And yes, even Vanderbilt,where former Terps coach-in-waiting — and O’Brien’s firstoffensive coordinator — JamesFranklin is now in charge.
You can credit Edsall fordoing the right thing, some-thing we haven’t been able todo, well, maybe ever.
But I’m not quite ready to
JEREMYSCHNEIDER
Right call,wrong timing
see SCHNEIDER, page 7
Off themat, allatwitter
WRESTLING
McCoy active on social media
GRAPHIC BY MAY WILDMAN/THE DIAMONDBACK
PHOTO BY CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK