february 7, 2013
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The Diamondback, February 7, 2013TRANSCRIPT
The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper
thursDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013 TOMORROW 30S / Cloudy
B1G commissioner says university will have to ‘get better’ after conference move
By Alex KirshnerSta� writer
Although students suffering from mental illness can withdraw from classes after their grades are final-ized, the University Senate will vote this month on a proposal that expands and clarifi es the policy for students.
Officials approved recommenda-tions from the Academic Procedures and Standards Committee to revise the university’s current policy on retroactive withdrawal, which allows students to
Amended withdrawal policy to go before University Senate this month
drop classes from their transcripts past the withdrawal deadline in special cir-cumstances. The revision allows the pro-posal to move forward for a full vote by the University Senate at its next meeting.
The committee fi rst looked into ad-justing the withdrawal policy last year, after 2012 graduate Samantha Roman proposed it could aid students whose academic performance su� ered due to extenuating circumstances.
The university’s policy on general withdrawal allows students to withdraw from the university up until the last day See Withdrawal, Page 2
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ISSUE NO. 83
103rd Year of Publication
NEWS 2 OPINION 4 FEATURES 5 DIVERSIONS 6 CLASSIFIED 6 SPORTS 8INDEX Submit tips to The Diamondback at [email protected] For breaking news, alerts and more, follow us on Twitter @thedbk © 2013 THE DIAMONDBACK
See Delany, Page 2
jim delany, Big Ten commissioner, said the university should improve soon. file photo/the diamondback
of the semester by submitting a written notice to the university registrar. Roman suggested that the university consider extending the policy to students whose grades had suffered during a period of mental or emotional distress after the semester had ended with minimal damage to their transcripts. Roman also proposed allowing them a path to reentry that bypasses petitioning the Faculty Review Board — a requirement for anyone withdrawing with a grade
UNEXPECTED BOOSTTerps gain three last-minute commits on National Signing Day p. 8
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MAKING AN EXCEPTIONEditor in chief explains why staff member’s involvement in senate proposal warranted exception p. 4
By Laura BlaseySenior sta� writer
For Harrison Baum, fi xing iPhones is a labor of love.
He’s not an engineering major, and he has no back-ground in business. But with nothing more than a passion, a set of instructions and a willingness to take a risk, the senior economics major created onCampus Repairs, an iPhone repair business.
Growing up, Baum loved to fi nd the secrets behind technol-ogy by taking gadgets apart and putting them back together. It was also a means of bonding with his father, who designed security equipment and also started his own business in college.
“In high school, I would always tinker and take stu� apart and if I ever had a question, I would run into his o� ce and he would answer it,” Baum said.
Toward the end of high school, Baum began investigating the structure of cell phones, noting the complexity of smartphones, with their paper-thin wires and fragile frames.
“I have so many people bring me phones that they’ve tried to fi x them-selves and ended up just messing up the whole thing,” Baum said.
Most fragile of all was the glass-cased iPhone. And from what Baum
ON-CAMPUS REPAIRSenior repairs students’ iPhone screens out of his apartment to pay for tuition
For Harrison Baum, fi xing iPhones is a labor
He’s not an engineering major, and he has no back-ground in business. But with nothing more than a passion, a set of instructions and a willingness to take a risk, the senior economics major created onCampus Repairs, an iPhone
Growing up, Baum loved to fi nd the secrets behind technol-ogy by taking gadgets apart and putting them back together. It was also a means of bonding with his father, who designed security equipment and also started his own
“In high school, I would always tinker and take stu� apart and if I ever had a question, I would run into his o� ce and he would answer it,” Baum said.
Toward the end of high school, Baum began investigating the structure of
Senior repairs students’ iPhone screens out of
saw upon arriving at the university, the only thing as common among this university’s students as the iPhone was a broken iPhone screen.
“I saw everyone was walking around with a cracked screen, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I could defi nitely do a good busi-ness fi xing them,’” Baum said.
He launched his business at the end
O’Malley, several lawmakers throw support behind proposals after Sandy Hook shooting
See hearing, Page 3
By Jim BachSenior sta� writer
Swept up in a nationwide push for stricter gun control laws following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, lawmakers in Annapolis set the stage yesterday for hearings on laws aimed at curbing gun violence.
Among the proposed measures are laws that require purchasers to have a license before obtaining a fi rearm, stricter background checks, a limit on the amount of rounds in a magazine and an assault weapons ban, all of which are embraced by Gov. Martin O’Malley, several leg-islators and gun control advocates.
“It’s going to save lives,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Vio-lence, adding other states have enacted similar gun laws. “It really does work to reduce gun violence.”
Following a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children, six adults and the shooter, DeMarco said the debate on gun control has become more press-ing, and lawmakers have become more receptive to legislation that would attempt to avoid further massacres.
“The Newtown tragedy really changed the dynamics, so I think that [the legislature] will pass reasonable
State gun control hearings underway
STATE GUN CONTROLLawmakers in Annapolis began hearings yesterday on state gun control measures in the wake of December’s Sandy Hook shooting. Among the proposed measures are:
1. Purchasers to have a license before obtaining a � rearm2. Stricter background checks3. Limited rounds per magazine4. Assault weapons ban
Police make arrest in armed robbery case By Yasmeen AbutalebSenior sta� writer
Prince George’s County Police arrested a 21-year-old College Park man Wednesday in connection with an attempted armed robbery last week in The Varsity.
D e m o n t e A n t o n i o Spearman, a resident of the 4700 block of Navahoe Street in College Park, is charged with fi rst-degree assault, second-degree assault, attempted robbery, fi rearm use and carrying a handgun.
He admitted his involvement in the Jan. 27 incident after being inter-viewed by detectives, according to a county police blog. Spearman alleg-edly entered a fourth fl oor common area at about 1:15 p.m., displayed what police believe to be a fake handgun and demanded a university
student’s laptop, University Police spokesman Maj. Marc Limansky said.
The student did not comply, and after a confron-tation, Spearman fl ed the scene. He was previously found guilty of p o s s e s s i o n o f
marijuana in July 2011, according to court records.
An armed robbery that occurred Tuesday on Paint Branch Parkway near Rhode Island Avenue is still under investigation. Police have not found a connection between the two incidents thus far, said Prince George’s Police spokeswoman Nicole Hubbard.
demonte antonio spearman photo courtesy of county police
By Yasmeen AbutalebSenior sta� writer
Conference realignments are nothing new to Jim Delany. He’s seen plenty play out in the 24 years since becoming Big Ten commissioner, with even his own conference dramatically reshaping in that time.
When he oversaw Nebraska’s move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten in 2010, Delany thought his conference was set. But he was seeing something new take hold across the country. Confer-ences weren’t simply adding or losing members, he realized. They were expanding geographically. It wasn’t enough to have members in only one region of the country because a wider
audience meant better TV contracts, which meant more fi nancial security.
So a couple of years ago, Delany thought o f u n ive rs i ty P re s i -dent Wallace Loh. He thought of this univer-sity’s proximity to major media markets in Wash-ington and Baltimore. He thought about the similarities between the university and the con-ference’s dozen members, about how the university was also a fl agship institution commit-ted to research.
For the most part, their partnership,
cial, Delany and Loh have both said. But if the move is to be truly successful in the long term, Delany said, the university will have to strengthen its financial backing among graduates and alumni and play its way to more of a presence in major media markets — and that can only come from top-notch revenue sports teams that rake in wins and championships.
“I think Maryland is a great university, has had
good success, but not great success, in recent years,” Delany told The Dia-mondback. “It’ll be important to us
solidifi ed in the university’s agreement to join the Big Ten before the 2014 ath-letic season, has been mutually benefi -
for Maryland to be successful and in any partnership, both partners should improve and get better as a result of that partnership.”
Loh announced the school’s deci-sion to leave the ACC on Nov. 19, and university o� cials have since spoken of the benefits of the conference’s revenue-sharing model and the in-creased academic opportunities o� ered by membership in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, an academic consortium of member schools and the University of Chicago.
Unlike most of the Big Ten’s members, however, this university isn’t a football-fi rst school, much less
of last spring, charging just $70 for a broken screen — among the lowest prices on the market, Baum said —and repairing phones within an hour.
What began as an experiment with testing his skills on friends’ broken phones quickly caught on with other students,
and now, Baum fixes between 50 and 70 phones a month.
Though he’s quick, repairing a phone is a complicated process, Baum said. It takes him 37 steps
to replace the screen of an iPhone 4.
“I had to make sure that I was 110 percent familiar with everything in the phone,
because you can’t screw around with and mess up other people’s phones,” Baum said, adding that he was nervous at first. “I’ve done 1,000 to 1,500 phones so far, and I haven’t messed up
a single one, but there’s really no room for error.”
His passion for technology goes beyond just screen repairs — Baum will look at any problem.
“This past winter break, my sister’s iPhone had water damage and I asked him if he could take a look at it,” said junior accounting major Hermela Hailemeskel. “He was able to fully fix it — and for a fair price, too. He is seriously the doctor
See baum, Page 3
2 THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | thursDAY, FEBRuary 7, 2013
a powerhouse. Byrd Stadium doesn’t often sell out; indeed, slumping ticket sales contrib-uted to the athletic department’s financial struggles and, ulti-mately, Loh’s openness to a more lucrative conference a� liation.
Perhaps most importantly, the university’s alumni and fan base, in terms of booster support, fall well short of the likes of the Uni-versity of Michigan, the Univer-sity of Wisconsin and Ohio State University. And that’s why there will have to be improvements if the move is going to work in the long term, Delany said.
But he’s confi dent it will. So is Loh.
“We want to be top-20 in athletics, which is not going to happen overnight, but we’re going to go down that path,” Loh said. “If you’re going to go down that path, we need to have the resources to do it. And we’re never going to get the resources in the ACC, not because there’s anything wrong with the ACC,
but just because it’s a totally dif-ferent ball game.”
That goal seemed far-reaching and increasingly unattainable on the athletic department’s pre-vious path. It had been hemor-rhaging money for several years, causing the defi cit to balloon to a projected $4.7 million in fi scal year 2011. That prompted Loh and Athletic Director Kevin An-derson to cut seven varsity teams, some of which they plan to later bring back with revenue from the conference shift. Before the cuts, the university ranked last among the ACC’s 12 schools in student-athlete support, with $67,390 spent per student-athlete.
“This is really going to benefi t how we take care of our student-athletes,” Anderson said of the move. “This is going to give us an opportunity to invest more.”
But the onus isn’t just on the university to adjust to the rigors of joining the Big Ten. The con-ference is equally obliged, Delany said, to strengthen its presence on the East Coast, so this univer-sity’s fans are as passionate about competition at Northwestern as they are at North Carolina.
delanyFrom PAGE 1
“If you expand your footprint, you have an obligation to build relationships, build friends, make competitions friendly — and there’s a lot of competition in this footprint,” he said. “There will be more competition, more games, and we’ll try to do it in a way … that reinforces fans and alumni and students in all locations.”
Many have speculated that the Big Ten is hardly done changing, that another ACC school could soon follow the university’s lead. But Delany declined to comment on further changes, maintaining he is “100 percent focused” on the addition of this university and Rutgers, which announced its departure from the Big East on Nov. 20.
Once this university and Rutgers join, the conference will have a trio of schools on the eastern corridor — Penn State has been a member of the conference for 20 years — and those media markets are different beasts. While Midwestern markets are dense and populous, the confer-ence’s East Coast schools reach into Washington, New York City and Philadelphia, all major na-
WALLACE LOH, university president, said the Big Ten move will bring academic and � nancial bene� ts to the school. To be successful, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the school must strengthen its fan base and generate more media attention on athletics. � le photo/the diamondback
point average less than 2.0.After investigating, the com-
mittee found the university already had a retroactive with-drawal provision in place, but it lacked the scope of Roman’s proposal, and it was missing from the university’s under-graduate catalog and published withdrawal policy.
Committee chair and engi-neering professor Chris Davis said the change was therefore being treated as a “clarifi cation” — changing the current language to make the policy more easily understandable and accessible to students.
“There’s always been a uni-versity policy to grant these [withdrawals],” he said, “but
it wasn’t clearly stated in the undergraduate catalog.”
Davis added that the policy already called for similar ex-ceptions to the ones Roman’s initial proposal called for, like requiring documentation for students withdrawing due to a mental or emotional disorder. Davis said the committee opted not to include Roman’s sug-gestion for easier reentry in the fi nal proposal because they felt setting standards for allowing students to bypass the review board would be too limiting.
“We’re actually not trying to be too prescriptive, because we want to retain friendly accom-modation,” Davis said.
Clearer wording would help students who face issues like depression or anxiety and may not be in a position to un-derstand the current policy’s
withdrawAlFrom PAGE 1
jargon, said Jeri Boliek, the Uni-versity Health Center’s triage services and suicide prevention program coordinator.
“Certainly we see it with major depressive episodes,” she said. “Students can become very depressed very slowly, and they may miss that withdrawal date, that drop date, and not even realize that they are depressed.”
Boliek cautions that o� cials need to consider students on a case-by-case basis, but some anxiety disorders can cause intense panic attacks and prevent students from being able to concentrate or remem-ber information. If students’ anxiety struggles have translat-ed to di� culty in the classroom, Roman said, their grade point averages shouldn’t be perma-nently saddled as a result.
Roman, however, isn’t so sure
“Students can become very depressed very slowly, and they may miss that withdrawal date, that drop date, and not even realize that they are depressed.”
JERI BOLIEKUniversity Health Center triage services and suicide prevention program coordinator
tional cities. There seems un-tapped potential for growth.
For the time being, university and Big Ten officials alike say they will do everything in their power to plan and prepare for the impending changes. At the end of the day, though, Delany
about the committee’s deci-sion to keep the policy’s review board provision. Forcing students before the review board — making them “argue their way back into the school” — could hurt those who have withdrawn because of anxiety troubles, she said.
“It may disadvantage someone who has a social anxiety disorder, someone who cannot connect with other people or is too anxious to do so, or somebody who’s maybe embarrassed,”
Roman said. “If someone had a suicide attempt, they might not want to share that.”
The Senate Executive Com-mittee’s proposed language changes, though, are a step in the right direction, both Roman
and Boliek said. The Senate will vote on the new language as well as a slew of other bills at its first meeting of the semester on Feb. 14.
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can’t be certain how it will all play out — the product on the fi eld will decide that.
“I’m very hopeful that Mary-land has success, that its pro-grams prosper, because I think that will lead to more fan in-terest, more fan affinity, more
support for the university that will eventually make the expan-sion appear to be successful,” he said. “If you’re a successful member of the Big Ten, you’re going to be nationally relevant.”
thursDAY, FEBRuary 7, 2013 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK 3
VALENTINE’S DAYGIFT PAGES
of iPhones.”If a phone is beyond repair and
someone plans to upgrade, he’ll take it anyway, refurbish it and sell it overseas.
There’s a huge market for expen-sive American smartphones in Asia, Baum said. A refurbished iPhone 4 can go for as much as $600 in Russia, China or the Middle East.
But whether the repair is being done for someone across the globe or in the city, Baum takes pride in his customer service. It’s some-
times hard work to balance his time, though, he said.
“There’s been nights where I literally worked straight through the night, didn’t sleep and went to class the next day,” Baum said.
“Sometimes, it can be ridiculous as a full-time student.”
But helping students is worth the lost hours of sleep, he said. Customer satisfaction has earned him a 100 percent satisfaction rating on eBay. He refuses to accept payment until customers see the repairs and he promises to match any lower repair price a customer might fi nd.
“I haven’t heard of people going to other places, and I’d like to think that’s why, but I do know there are a few other places on campus that do it,” Baum said.
When he’s not fixing phones, Baum spends most of his free time
doing community service with Alpha Phi Omega, a community service fraternity. He’s also the fi rst student business to sponsor Terp Thon, an on-campus group that raises money for the Children’s National Medical Network.
“I think it’s awesome that there’s a Maryland student that has enough business and is able to sponsor us,” said Hank Rich, Terp Thon supply and logistics chairman.
Ultimately, Baum plans to put his earnings toward opening an assisted living home with a friend after college. In the meantime, he hopes to expand his business to cover Android phones and one day
bring onCampus Repairs to other schools, training new employees.
“The job offer is that you fix phones on the campus for me, and I’ll pay your tuition,” Baum said.
The most rewarding part of his work, Baum said, has been gaining the opportunity to pay back his parents back for his own tuition.
“I saved 95 percent of [my earn-ings] in a college fund,” Baum said. “I couldn’t ask for more than that.”
They never asked for the money — it was Harrison’s motivation that pushed him, Ron Baum, his father, wrote in an email.
“I am very proud of him, not just for his continuing success,
but for his business ethics — he doesn’t want anything given to him without working for it,” Baum wrote. “The fact that he has o� ered to pay back for college — he is getting closer by the month — was of greater value to me then [sic] the money involved.”
Starting and running his own business has been an educational experience for Harrison Baum, the self-taught repairman said.
“I love business and I love tech-nology. I love doing stu� like this and dealing with people, so hope-fully I can keep this going.”
baumFrom PAGE 1
measures to reduce gun vio-lence,” DeMarco said.
But more laws won’t solve the problem, said state Sen. Ed Reilly (R-Anne Arundel), and will only create more hurdles and red tape.
“We have some of the most re-strictive gun control laws in the United States,” Reilly said. “When you look at Chicago and Washing-ton, D.C., that have the most re-strictive city gun laws, it doesn’t stop violence, so by putting addi-
tional restrictions on law-abiding citizens, I don’t feel we’ll change the violent gun society we have today. We’ll only put a burden on law-abiding citizens.”
The focus should instead narrow to helping serve school safety and mental health, which Reilly said the legislation fails to address in a substantive manner.
“All of the major tragedies that have happened in the United States occur with people who have mental health issues,” Reilly said, adding while O’Malley allocated an additional $53 million in state dollars for mental health issues, it
was a relatively small expenditure in the context of this year’s $37 billion budget.
Also underlying the gun violence debate is culture, a matter left out of discussions in Annapolis, he said.
“TV, movies, video games, In-ternet; we need to have a healthy, transparent discussion about vio-lence, First Amendment and where we as society should draw the line,” Reilly said.
The hearings and debate un-folding in the state serve as a model of what is also being played out at a national level. By getting the conversation going in Annap-
olis, leaders in Washington may be energized to respond as well with modifi cations to the country’s gun laws, DeMarco said.
In a news conference last month, President Obama unveiled several gun control measures that included provisions similar to those being presented in the state, such as limiting the amount of rounds in a magazine to 10, and an assault weapons ban. The former of those two options would likely be the best way to seize on the heightened appetite for gun control, public policy professor Christopher Foreman wrote in an email, and the
nation may not get the same type of assault weapons ban it got in 1994 under the Clinton administration.
“Round-for-round the typical ‘assault weapon’ is less lethal than many traditional high-powered hunting rifles. It would seem more important to limit am-munition capacity rather than gun type,” Foreman wrote. “The administration is aware of this and perhaps prepared to trade an assault-weapons ban away to get a fi nal bill emphasizing other things, including capacity limits, background checks and freedom to conduct gun-related research.”
But any sort of policy measure will energize Obama’s “grassroots enemies,” Foreman wrote.
“The [gun rights] fundamen-talists, to whom the fi nal clause of the Second Amendment is tan-tamount to sacred scripture, will never be happy with any regula-tion,” Foreman wrote. “The irony, however, is that any overt move toward enhanced regulation ben-efi ts them organizationally as it plays into their narrative of a ‘[slippery slope] towards confi s-cation and tyranny.’”
hearingFrom PAGE 1
Harrison Baumcharlie deboyace/the diamondback
A lurking disaster
ANDREW DO
As editors, we’re faced with deci-sions every day that test us and some-times let us see how far we’re willing to push the boundaries of journalism and ethics. Should we pull that ad? Is that cartoon OK to run in the paper? Does this source deserve anonymity?
It’s a difficult line to toe, one that often leaves us questioning ourselves and wondering whether we’re really fit to run this newspaper. We’re put in charge with no faculty oversight, and most of the time, we feel pretty confi dent — but then again, we’re stu-dents, and I know I’ve had my share of self-doubt in this position.
So when Lauren Redding — The Diamondback’s online editor and last year’s editor in chief — told me she wanted to author a University Senate proposal mandating sexual assault prevention education for the univer-sity, I hesitated. Her doing so would violate this newspaper’s policies by taking a political stance of sorts and being heavily involved in one of the university’s governing bodies.
But after some thinking, I realized some issues are bigger than us, and
FROM THE EDITOR
there are times to make exceptions. When that exception could protect so many people and prevent future as-saults — traumatizing experiences no one should have to endure — it’s time to stop and reconsider.
Here’s the thing: Sexual assault a� ects every community of this uni-versity, including the community of Diamondback sta� members. Lauren herself is a sexual assault survivor, and she’s not the only one on the sta� . There was simply no way I could point to a newspaper policy to prevent this initiative from launching when so many people we all know are personally af-fected by it.
The proposal is quickly moving through the senate; it’s already been approved by the Senate Executive Committee, the most powerful sub-committee, and is now under review by university President Wallace Loh’s Sexual Harassment Task Force. It could go before the full senate as soon as next month for a vote and, if approved, make its way to Loh’s desk for his signature.
We could have brushed Lauren’s in-volvement under the rug and simply mentioned her authoring the bill in any articles related to the proposal. But that’s not The Diamondback’s mission. We seek to deliver the truth as accu-rately and fairly as possible.
Yes, Lauren is the driving force behind this potential policy, and yes, I allowed it. Lauren’s job does not require her to be in the newsroom while we work on the paper, so she is not involved in day-to-day decisions, and she is not involved in deciding news content. The reporter on the story does not know Lauren on a per-sonal level, so there is no confl ict of interest. And I’m not editing stories that have to do with this proposal to ensure we report as objectively as we possibly can.
Maybe some people will frown upon or disapprove of my decision. That’s fi ne — being a journalist is never about being popular. If this policy is passed, so many students could be protected from assaults on the campus. I doubt anyone will remember that Lauren, a Diamondback editor, broke the newspaper’s policy to get it passed. What will be remembered, however, is someone stood up for sexual assault victims and put in place a preventative measure to create a safer campus. And if that means my judgment is ques-tioned in the meantime, that’s a small price to pay.
Ya s m e e n A b u t a l e b i s a j u n i o r journalism and microbiology major. She can be reached at [email protected].
Learning when to make exceptions
joey lockwood/the diamondback
EDITORIAL CARTOON
We have barely entered the work-force and the last thing on our minds is retirement. You’ve probably heard something about how Social Security is broken. But our generation seems to care little — collecting those checks is about 40 years down the road — but the fact is this: It a� ects us now.
Every time we get our biweekly paychecks, as sparse as they are, money is taken out of them in the form of a payroll tax, which is used to fund the Social Security trust for benefi ciaries now. We are essentially paying it forward in the hope that, when the time comes for us to collect our Social Security checks, there will be funds for us to collect. But accord-ing to former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, without exten-sive reform, there will be nothing to collect, noting, “In 2033, incoming revenue and trust fund resources will be insu� cient to maintain payment of full benefi ts.”
And so I ask, why am I paying and investing into a broken system? Would you invest in a stock, knowing that you will never get anything in return in the future?
Social Security talk scares the average citizen. It actually scares our politicians even more. The fear that reform means gutting the program and taking away the older generation’s means of income causes politicians to do nothing. Some have talked about reform, like Paul Ryan, but we saw what happens when you mention reform and Social Security in the same sentence during an election year — you get run over by the AARP, the political left and even people from your own party. Remember those super PAC and candidate commer-cials from both parties claiming the other’s plan will cut or ruin Social Se-curity or Medicare benefi ts? All was made in an attempt to sway voters by
inciting fear — a disgusting tactic that kicked the can further down the road.
The fact is, 20 percent of the federal government’s budget is dedicated to Social Security. All of the nonessentials such as education, transportation and scientifi c research are all funded by bor-rowed money. All the while, 6 percent of the federal budget alone is used to pay down interest on the debt. So when we talk about meaningful debt reduction, Social Security reform has to be in the equation.
But reform is unheard of. This all stems from the fact that the backers or beneficiaries of the current Social Security and Medicare systems are a large voting bloc for both parties, and the AARP is an infl uential lobby-ing group. And so I ask, where is the strong, infl uential lobbying group for our generation, Generation Y, or even Generation X? Why can’t we counter what the AARP is doing for its members and have an interest group that stands up for our interests?
This is not a progressive, Democrat, Republican or libertarian issue — it’s a generational one. It is the responsibil-ity of our generation to oust or change something that has us bearing all the cost with no reward in the end. Re-member the politicians work for us, and when they see a large voting bloc calling for action and reform, they will have no choice but to listen. But in case they only listen to interest groups, we should band together to create an inter-est group — the American Association of Youngin’ Persons, or whatever we want to call it.
The next time you receive your bi-weekly paycheck, remember to look at the deductions: minus $8.50 for payroll tax (aka Social Security funding), and even minus $3.60 for Medicare. Think about how we are putting money into a system that won’t be there for our benefi t unless it’s reformed. For now, all we’re doing is standing by and watch-ing our money continue to disappear.
Andrew Do is a senior biochemistry major. He can be reached at [email protected].
On Sunday, Feb. 3, I spent most of the day glued to my seat (section 641, row 16, seat 9) in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII, my shoulders and neck weighed down by hoards of Mardi Gras beads and a purple teddy bear I had caught on Bourbon Street earlier that day. Then the power went out and the stadium became dark. Colin Kaepernick had just been sacked for a big loss and the Baltimore Ravens led 28-6, their momentum never higher. On the fi eld, the emergency lights showed Jacoby Jones and Ed Reed, New Orleans natives, waving their arms, pumping up the crowds and orchestrating the Ravens faithful in the day’s best impromptu rendi-tions of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”
Despite all these “bon temps” (as they say in the French Quarter), the eeriness of the dark and the growing ominous feelings in the crowd led me to one conclusion: Some real voodoo was going on. My mind immediately and cynically darted to conspiracy theories and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell pulling strings to get the San Francisco 49ers back into the game. When play resumed and the 49ers roared back to obliterate the defi cit, my cynicism was so high that the heavy beads I once wore as a badge of love and support for my team and city had become crippling. It was as though they were crushing my soul from a diamond back to its natural state — a chunk of coal.
As a Monday-morning quarter-back, I can analyze this short bout of cynicism and say that, like most moments of cynicism, it was just a defense mechanism meant to distract me from the fact that my team wasn’t
playing well at the time. What’s funny is most Ravens fans I talked to during the power outage had the same cynical reaction: Why are they doing this to us?
This phenomenon got me think-ing about the nature of cynicism, and why the thousands of Ravens fans in the stadium who had just watched their beloved team race out to a 22-point lead — and undoubtedly had a once-in-a-lifetime weekend — would employ such a bummer of an attitude. It’s because cynicism is the universe’s get-out-of-jail-free card. It’s a one-size-fi ts-all attitude we keep in our back pocket to simultaneously apologize for how things are while defl ecting blame and remaining above everything else. In short, it’s a zero-sum philosophy born from shameless ignorance breeding with blind arrogance, and almost all of us are guilty of it at some point.
I am cynical in almost every situation because no matter what goes wrong, it’s never my fault. It’s not that I didn’t prepare myself well enough for the exam and got a bad grade, my teacher just hates me. It’s not my fault I stupidly walked to R.J. Bentley’s with the line at peak length, it’s all the underage kids’ fault for conspiring against me so I won’t have a good time even after I wait an hour. That girl doesn’t dislike me for me, she must just have a thing for dumb guys who listen to dubstep and do more drugs than I do.
My cynical plight must resonate on some level with all of you, because I can’t be the only cynical person in the world; even though, as a cynic, I think as if I am the only person in the world. Our selfi shness and cynical philosophy is inherently bad because we can’t see it. It’s morphing us into the youngest-ever generation of misanthropes whose motto is simply “everybody sucks but me.” And that’s what really sucks.
But at least it’s not our fault.
Drew Farrell is a senior English major. He can be reached at [email protected].
As I’m sure you noticed, the drive to College Park Monday was brighter than usual. More specifi cally, you may have noticed the normally gray asphalt had become a white sheet with tiny gray splotches.
No, this was not snow on the ground. This was a blanket of salt, dumped at the fi rst hint of a fl urry the day before. Despite the absence of measurable snow, this layer of sodium chloride has attached itself to every car, van, bus and slow-moving scooter over the past few days and wrought havoc on both paint jobs and salt reserves.
But this is no mistake. No rampaging salt truck driver has decided to take revenge on the puny cars around him and dump a metric ton for fun. No, this is merely symptomatic of the culture of fright and overreaction when it comes to snow in this state.
Allow me to put this into a national context. In the theme of the univer-sity’s new Big Ten membership, let me begin with the great state of Ohio. Terps can rest easy knowing those Buckeyes, politically adept though they may be, exhibit the same para-noia toward snowy roads this state does. Both states burn through salt
loads by mid-February, delay profes-sional work days and even shut down schools for no more than two inches of snow. Take notes, as this could be a great conversation starter when the Bucks roll through town for football season in 2014.
Now take a look at another state close to my heart: Minnesota. As anyone within Minnesota borders will promptly inform you, Minnesotans go to school in feet – yes, plural – of snow each winter and are grateful for the opportunity. One look at the Maryland system of school closure would prompt hearty laughter fol-lowed by a Vikes game in negative-degree weather.
Why does this state do it? It could possibly be for safety, which is the most feasible argument for closing schools. Just on Friday, there were no less than six major car crashes, all the day after a storm and adequate plowing. Maryland drivers – at least those on the Capital Beltway, Route 29, Route 1 and Route 100 – seem to be incapable of driving even in stable, post-snow conditions. This is indica-tive more of a paranoia around snow than an actual safety issue around wet roads.
Even if it was the roads, the methods of snow removal are even more ridic-ulous. Anyone driving after a minor snowfall will typically see a convoy of
eight snow plows, all driving side by side, tra� c held up behind them for more than half a mile. What’s more, some streets are being salted at least twice before other neighborhoods get a fi rst layer. Both of these indicate a serious issue in both the allocation and the training of salt truckers. Both of these things are blowing taxpayers’ money and propagating a system that is clearly broken.
While those living on this campus might not feel the same anger over road conditions, it’s something com-muters have to deal with every day. And the tax money allowing you a cheap public education is also going to this disaster of emergency response systems. A more e� cient system might keep down tuition costs, or at least allow for less infl ation by freeing up more money. If you don’t believe me, wait until we get a real snow storm and have to ship in salt from Virginia or Delaware. That price tag goes up in a hurry.
There are better ways to deal with winter weather, and it’s time this state takes a look at them before something really serious comes through — like a snowfall more than fi ve inches.
E r i k S h e l l i s a s o p h o m o r e classical languages and literatures and history major. He can be reached at [email protected].
Snow: Where reckless meets feckless
Cynical Super Bowl
ERIK SHELL
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In New Orleans, everyone sucks but me
ACROSS 1 Coming out 6 Sari sporter 10 Gizzard 14 Puts on guard 15 Ever’s partner 16 With us now 17 Delete a file 18 -- -- to win it 19 Peter Gunn’s girl 20 Threat ender 21 Overly romantic, maybe (hyph.) 23 From memory (2 wds.) 25 Strong-arms 26 Bad-mouth 27 Host -- Philbin 29 Wielded an axe 32 Happen again 33 Large amount 36 Lemony 37 Knight’s weapon 38 Layered cookie 39 Keep fit 40 “Ah Sin” playwright 41 Book jacket ad 42 Makes yawn 43 “Get -- of that junk!” 44 Half of the biathlon 47 Shrewd 51 They’re often rifled (2 wds.)
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38 Eastern hemi sphere (2 wds.) 40 Hagar’s daughter 41 Profile 42 Sturgis visitors 43 ER personnel
44 Extent 45 Green-eyed Thai cat 46 Ancient Greek colony 47 Swedish currency
48 Homer opus 49 Sister’s girl 50 Errand runner 52 Lower jaw 53 Crazed captain 57 Cum-laude stat
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Born today, you are one of those tenacious individuals who is able to hang on to
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back to basicsThe Strokes, who will release a new album next month, started an alt-rock renaissance by stripping the genre of its pretenses and irrelevant flourishes
LASTING IMPACT | THE STROKES
I still remember the first album I ever bought. Unfortunately, it’s not an especially fond memory. I was 6 years old, and through a promotional campaign with McDonald’s, ’N Sync tricked me into paying money for their music — a sin I have yet to repeat — with clever marketing
tactics and relatively cheap thrills. This sticks out in my mind as sig-
nificant on some metaphorical level, too. By the end of the 20th century, popular music had become synon-ymous with cheap, conveyor-belt food with a reputation for causing arterial clotting if consumed on too frequent a basis.
When The Strokes — whose next album comes out March 26 — burst
onto the New York music scene in 2000, people began to turn away from this studio-ified music trend and revel in a more authentic sound. Upon releasing their debut EP The Modern Age in early 2001, they gen-erated an unlikely amount of success for a fledgling rock band.
Positive reception led to a bidding war among labels and a massive amount of hype generated primarily,
but not exclusively, by the British press. Sud-
d e n ly, t he re
was this group of ragged 20-year-old uptown New York kids playing garage rock — The Velvet Under-ground fused with a new wave sound reminiscent of The Cars.
Contempt is readily bred in the American music industry for young bands that have acquired seeming-ly unearned exposure. As a result, critics called The Strokes’ sound hackneyed and lead singer Julian Casablancas’ vocals a cheap imi-tation of an early Lou Reed. Some even went so far as to say they were representative of all that was wrong
in the world of music. N o n e t h e l e s s , t h e
g roup’s f i rst f u l l-l e n g t h a l b u m , I s T h i s It , g a r n e re d widespread acclaim,
including a 9.1 out of 10 from the historically hype-hating Pitchfork,
even after writer Ryan Schreiber declared the
band had “seen enough publicity in 2001 to make bin Laden jealous.”
T h e y e n c a p s u l a te d a moment in time by finding the balance between angst, apathy and artistic emotion
that can be found in all great ro c k s o u n d s , w h i l e s t i l l making it their own. They cared just enough to play their songs for you but not nearly enough to act happy about it.
Su re, T he W h ite Stripes w e r e a r o u n d b e f o r e T h e Strokes, and sure, The White
Stripes were very influential. But they weren’t a group of guys who went to school together and then decided to play music with each other. Compared to The Strokes, they weren’t even a band; they were a truly talented duo that was, quite honestly, less relatable.
The Strokes struck the match that sparked the rock band again. From them sprung groups like Franz Fer-dinand, Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks, to name a few. They influ-enced what looked cool, too. Tat-tered thrift shop jeans became in-finitely more trendy than studded earrings and spiked bleached hair. That’s right — even hipsters owe something to The Strokes.
The Strokes did not by any means invent a genre — they liberated one. And despite more tepid reactions to their three albums since Is This It, the band has progressed and ex-perimented without deviating too far from the sound that won them acclaim in the first place.
When the band’s newest album is released next month, I’m willing to bet critical reviews will again be mixed. There will be complaints that they’ve just mirrored Is This It, or that they’ve taken a step or two in the wrong direction. Don’t believe it.
While it may not be considered the quintessential rock album of the modern era, it will be The Strokes. No pretense, no mainstream non-sense. Just good old rock with 21st-century relevance.
By Joe AntoshakFor the Diamondback
photo courtesy of fanpop.com
REVOLUTIONARY FILMMAKINGSenior staff writer Warren Zhang writes about his love of Steven Soderbergh (of Che, Ocean’s 11 and Contagion) and laments his imminent retirement. For more, visit diamondbackonline.com.
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EVEN THE DIAMONDBACK | XXXDAY, SEPTEMBER XX, 20122 THE DIAMONDBACK | FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013 | SPORTS| THE DIAMONDBACK 7
in the Big Ten, according to Rivals, falling behind only pow-erhouse programs Ohio State, M ichigan and Nebraska. It doesn’t hurt that they swiped Jacobs from the Buckeyes, either.
“All the kids we talked to were excited to play in the Big Ten,” Edsall said. “They wanted to partake in the challenge of playing in the conference.”
Regardless of the conference, though, the class was centered on securing local talent. Four-teen of the Terps signees hail from either Maryland or Wash-ington, including all three who made their decisions yesterday.
“The DMV area is huge for us,” recruiting coordinator John Dunn said. “I think that’s where you always build your program, with guys from your home base.”
That held true for the Terps’ two biggest commitments en-tering yesterday. Long, a junior college transfer who hails from Washington, caught 25 touchdown passes for Iowa Western Commu-nity College this season and is the team’s lone fi ve-star recruit.
“Basically, just growing up in the area, and coming up here to watch the games since I was a
young kid … I missed home, and I am excited to be back,” Long said. “Also, working out with Vernon Davis and Torrey Smith, and just always knowing I wanted to be a Terp.”
The Terps also stayed local to snag dual-threat quarterback Shane Cockerille from Gilman High School in Baltimore. Yesterday, Edsall praised Cockerille — who Rivals ranks as the nation’s 16th-best quarterback — as a potential leader of the program.
“It looks great; I’m really, really excited to play with all of these guys,” athlete Milan Collins, who signed his letter of intent yesterday, said last week. “It seems like we’re bringing in a lot of talent.”
Still, nabbing Ngakoue, Veii and Jacobs on national signing day makes a big impact.
Ngakoue, who choose the Terps over Florida State and South Carolina, is expected to challenge for playing time at linebacker right away after an accomplished career at Friend-ship Collegiate Academy.
Meanwhile, Veii chose to come to College Park after consider-ing Nebraska and Iowa, and will likely play cornerback at the college level.
The team’s first of three big signings, though, may have
been the most surprising. Jacobs, whose brother LeVern is a sophomore receiver for the Terps, seemed set on going to Ohio State. Even after decom-mitting from the Buckeyes, the Suitland native was still consid-ering playing in Columbus, Ohio.
But Jacobs ultimately chose the Terps, likely because he wanted to be closer to his 1-year-old daughter.
“I think he really cared about that,” Edsall said. “He wanted to fulfi ll his obligation as a father, to be there.”
Jacobs’ decision certainly benefi ts the Terps. He and Long will join a deep receiving corps that already includes sopho-more standout Stefon Diggs and junior Marcus Leak.
Just as importantly, though, Jacobs started a wildly successful day for the Terps.
Before yesterday Jacobs, Ngakoue and Veii hadn’t made their college decisions. Now, they’re all preparing to make an impact in College Park.
“It adds depth on the defen-sive side and the o� ensive side of the ball,” Dunn said. “And most importantly, those three guys are good athletes and have some real playmaking ability.”
could prove crucial for the Terps’ NCAA tournament chances. Pundits tend to review road records when deciding whether a team de-serves to move o� the bubble and into the NCAA tourna-ment bracket. Even if the Terps manage one or two more upsets at home, a sub-.500 conference road mark could spell the Terps’ third straight absence from March Madness.
“That’s the next step,” Turgeon said. “We want to be a part of the NCAA Tour-nament, we have to win road games. We know that, but we’re not putting a ton of pressure on ourselves.”
Turgeon proved as much when he decided to cancel two practices earlier this week. After the Terps played arguably their best game of the season in an 86-60 rout of Wake Forest on Saturday, the second-year coach told his players to stay home and enjoy the Super Bowl on Sunday.
He gave them another op-portunity for a break Monday, but most of the roster showed
up at Comcast Center anyway to hoist extra shots and work out with team trainer Kyle Tarp.
“It was good to get those two days off for recovery,” forward Jake Layman said. “But we had a great practice [Tuesday], and now we’re ready to beat Virginia Tech.”
The Terps (16-6, 4-5 ACC), who boast a 10-6 record at the Hokies’ (11-10, 2-6) Cassell Coliseum, have a simple game plan tonight: Force guard Erick Green into ill-advised shots. The nation’s leading scorer at 25 points per game, Green has a knack for getting his numbers. He has fi nished with less than 20 points only two times this season and has topped the 30-point mark in three games.
But Virginia Tech tends to struggle when Green isn’t ef-fi cient from the fi eld, owning a 2-6 record in contests the senior shot below 50 percent. The Terps’ Jan. 5 win over the Hokies provides the perfect case study. Green managed a game-high 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting, and the Terps ran away with the 23-point blowout.
“We know he’s going to score 25 points, but we want to make him do it in 25 shots,” said guard Seth Allen, who
figures to mark Green for stretches tonight. “We want to make him earn it.”
If the Terps can do that, they’ll all but ensure their fi rst ACC road win of the season. Just don’t tell Turgeon. He’s trying to temper expectations and keep his team relaxed. And why wouldn’t he? In his mind, the Terps are right where they need to be.
“We just want to play the way we’re capable of playing,” Turgeon said. “Hopefully it’s good enough to win by one.”
RECRUITINGFrom PAGE 8
HOKIESFrom PAGE 8
Coach Mark Turgeon and the Terps aresearching for their � rst ACC road victoryof the year. charlie deboyace/the diamondback
Page 8 THURSDAY, February 7, 2013
Sports NEAR THE TOP OF THE POLLSThe Terps women’s lacrosse team is ranked No. 4 in
the nation. For more, visit diamondbackonline.com.ON THEBLOG
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Randy EdsallTerps football coach
“We never worry as coaches. Believe that and I’ll sell you some waterfront property in Arizona, too.”
FOOTBALL | NATIONAL SIGNING DAY
Coach Randy Edsall landed three previously undecided recruits on signing day, vaulting the Terps’ class from No. 49 to No. 31 in the nation. file photo/the diamondback
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Terps searching for first ACC road winTeam travels to play at Virginia Tech tonightBy Connor LetourneauSenior staff writer
M a rk Tu rge o n h a s b e e n h e re before. The Terrapins men’s bas-ketball coach has seen young teams struggle to win road games, and he’s watched them grow more frustrated with each mounting defeat.
After all, Turgeon won just one con-ference road game during his first two years leading an inexperienced Wichita State team in the early 2000s. But as years passed and the Shockers became a more veteran squad, victories piled up. Wichita State won five Missouri Valley Conference games on the road during his third season, and six in his fourth.
So Turgeon’s not fretting over the Terps’ 0-4 ACC road record. He’s not scrapping game plans or overhauling lineups. Instead, Turgeon is taking a more macro approach. With another road test looming at Virginia Tech tonight, he’s giving his players extra rest and encour-aging them to play loose.
“I see it coming,” Turgeon said of the Terps’ first ACC road win. “We all want it to happen now, but we’re getting there. We just want to go out there relaxed.”
The Terps, a unit featuring six new-comers in its 10-man rotation, have struggled in a variety of ways on the road this season. They scored just 14 first-half points at Miami, tallied 21 turnovers at North Carolina and failed to defend the three-point arc during a 20-point blowout loss at Duke.
Though Turgeon’s squad improved mightily at Florida State last Wednes-
day, it couldn’t make the necessary plays down the stretch. Center Alex Len botched an alley-oop with 13 seconds remaining, and the Terps left Seminoles guard Michael Snaer wide open for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that captured a 73-71 Florida State win.
The narrow defeat was a painful re-minder of each possession’s importance. But it also served as a much-needed con-fidence boost for a youthful group still growing accustomed to the ACC’s many raucous crowds and venues.
The Seminoles defeat showed the Terps they’re more than capable of securing road wins against the con-ference’s top teams. They just need to calm down, Turgeon said. They just need to avoid putting unneces-sary pressure on themselves and focus on making the simple play.
“You don’t know what to expect from the crowd, the referees, the court,” forward James Padgett said. “There’s going to be a lot of different things, so I just think it’s something we have to become familiar with.”
That learning process should grow easier in the coming weeks. After start-ing their conference slate with visits to four programs in the top five of the ACC standings, the Terps face four of the league’s bottom five teams on the road over the regular season’s final five weeks. They boast a better overall record than all five remaining road tests, and should be favored in each game.
Feasting on those lower-tier teams
Making a statementWith three last-minute commitments, Edsall hauls in No. 31-ranked recruiting class
By Aaron KasinitzStaff writer
At 9 a.m. yesterday morning — college football’s National Signing Day — the Terrapins football team already had a serviceable 19-player recruiting class. Rivals.com ranked it No. 49 in the nation, not a bad haul for a team that owns a 6-18 record over the past two seasons.
But as the morning went on, the faxes started pouring in to coach Randy Edsall’s office. And by the end of the day, that top-50 class had morphed into a top-35 class.
First, three-star wide receiver Taivon Jacobs, who originally com-mitted to Ohio State, signed with the Terps. Linebacker Yannick Ngakoue, the 2012 D.C. Gatorade Player of the Year, followed suit. And later, three-star athlete Jacquille Veii did the same.
By noon, all three players still con-sidering College Park had picked the Terps. As a result, the recruiting class jumped 18 spots in just three hours, rising all the way up to No. 31 in Rivals’ national rankings.
“We felt good about all three going into it, but you just never know until they call you,” Edsall said yester-
day. “To go 3-for-3 on signing day makes a big statement about what we’re doing here and the direction that we’re going.”
Overall, the class consists of 22 total players, including five-star wide receiv-er Deon Long and six players that Rivals or ESPN rate as four-star prospects.
It was an important recruiting class, too, considering the school is planning to move to the Big Ten in 2014. The Terps used the conference switch as a recruiting tool, and it worked.
The Terps’ class would rank fourth
See RECRUITING, Page 7See HOKIES, Page 7