Campus Drive

Why so serious, Rep. Campbell? (UPDATED)

Kevin Robillard — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:46:11 +0000

UPDATE: According to the Washington Post’s 44 blog, the resolution honoring the Terps passed the House today, but an astounding 132 members – all but two of them Republicans – voted against it. Symbolic bills like this one generally pass without opposition. Hoyer’s office told the Post this was another example of Republican obstructionism:

“Republicans are staying true to their ‘Party of No’ doctrine: Whether it’s health care, job creation, or basketball, Republicans aren’t for anything,” said Hoyer spokeswoman Stephanie Lundberg.

U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) doesn’t Fear the Turtle.

U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.)

Yesterday, a resolution sponsored by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a university alumnus who represents College Park, was scheduled to be heard on the House floor. The bill would have honored the Terp men’s basketball team for having the ACC Player of the Year in Greivis Vasquez, ACC Coach of the Year in Gary Williams, for co-winning the ACC regular season title and for making the NCAA tournament.

Resolutions honoring athletic accomplishments by constituents are heard all the time on the House floor, and they are generally passed without much controversy. These bills are generally heard and passed under what’s called “suspension of the rules,” which limits the amount of debate that can be heard on them and allows them to pass via voice vote instead of a formal roll call vote. However, any member of congress can gum up the works by calling for a roll call vote.

That’s what Campbell did, preventing the Terps from formally being honored by the U.S. House. Why would a congressman from California prevent the Terps from being honored? Perhaps lingering bitterness about the Terps’ smackdown of the Cal Golden Bears in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament? Nope.

Last October, the University of California-Irvine men’s volleyball team won the national championship. Campbell sponsored a resolution honoring them. But, due to what The Orange County Register says was Campbell’s refusal to support a water project U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) wanted, Hoyer pulled that resolution from the house floor.

So Campbell got his payback. But he had to go further. He first complained that unlike the fearsome Anteaters (yes, that’s their nickname) of UC-Irvine, the Terps merely had qualified for the “playoffs.” (Who calls the NCAA tournament the playoffs?) He asked where resolutions honoring the other 64 teams in the tournament were.

In all fairness, they do make the Anteater look pretty fierce.

And just to really dig in the dagger, he pointed to a study highlighted by The Washington Post claiming the Terps have the lowest graduation rate of any team in the field of 65. Let’s hope he and Gary Williams never run into each other. Things could get ugly.

Campbell’s objection forced the House to delay voting on the measure. But being the alma mater of the majority leader has its benefits. According to the schedule posted on Hoyer’s website, a vote on the resolution could happen as soon as today.

College: Let’s get it started

Allison Stice — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:43:52 +0000

You're welcome.

Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas is frustrated that the pressing crises of our time, like the economy, terrorism and health care, are overshadowing real talk about education. He worries, as he told PEOPLE Magazine, that “we could have a nation full of dummies.”

That’s why he’s bankrolling the college education of four friends.

Will.i.am, whose real name is William James Adams Jr., did the calculus after deejaying a party and realized he could put three people through school with his earnings. Combined with his belief that real success is marked by lifting up others along with you, and the star who never went to college himself decided to create the i.am scholarship fund.

But a free education isn’t the only boon for the four freshmen: they also get to join the Black Eyed Peas backstage at concerts; they will each land an internship at Will.i.am’s social networking site Dipdive.com, and a guaranteed job there upon graduation; and if their grades stay good, they get to pick a country anywhere in the world each year for the next four years to visit with the band.

These days when he hears a Black Eyed Peas jam, scholarship winner Elijah Williams thinks of hitting the books instead of the clubs.

“I think I should go do homework or something,” the Wilmington University freshman said.

Don’t phunk with that GPA.

Morning Round-Up: Ohio Shooting

Kristi Tousignant — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:27:23 +0000

An Ohio State employee shot at co-workers this morning, killing one and wounding another.

The employee opened fire in a maintenance building and university officials say that the incident only involves the facilities department.

No students were hurt in the shooting and classes are being held as scheduled.
Two workers were hospitalized, one of which is the shooter. The third was pronounced dead at the scene.

Quick Hits:
>>Students rose up against Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli after he sent a letter to the state’s universities last week calling for them to disclude sexual orientation from their nondiscrimination policies.

>>Officials have arrested a group of California sham test-takers that helped Middle Eastern students obtain visas by taking English proficiency exams for them. The ring would then take college courses and exams for the foreign students, as well.

>> Couples in D.C. are headed to the chapel this morning to become among the first same-sex couples to be married in the district.

The Great Grade Inflation

Ben Slivnick — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:52:46 +0000

Your grades are getting higher.

Well, maybe not your grades, but according to a studypublished in last week in Teachers College Record , college students’ grades have shown a persistent increase since the 1950s. Then, the mean G.P.A. at U.S. colleges and universities was 2.52. By 2007, it was 3.11.

While it’s impossible to say for sure what’s behind the increase, Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, the study’s authors, put forward three possible factors that could be driving it.

1. It’s in universities’ self-interest to issue higher grades. If a university graduates a raft of 4.0 students, it will have more alumni in top graduate programs and jobs. The bottom line: more donors and a better reputation.

2. It’s in a professor’s self interest to issue higher grades. After all, professors aren’t the only ones who give out grades. Students evaluate their professors every semester, and since the advent of such evaluations, the grades professors have handed down have increased steadily.

3. It’s in a student’s self interest to get higher grades — and increasingly they’ve come to college with higher expectations. With the cost of college shooting through the roof, students have become higher education customers. And even when it comes to grades, the customer is always right.

But as Linda Perlstein of the National Education Writers Association notes one hypothesis behind the great grade inflation was conspicuously left out of Rojstaczer and Healy’s calculations.

What about the idea that students might be doing better? Just saying!

Maybe it’s just because we’re all college students, but here at The Diamondback, we tend to think that there’s a lot of merit to Perlstein’s point. Since the 1950s, nationwide education funding has increased, Communism has died, and the advent of Wikipedia has made learning random facts fashionable.

In conclusion, a highly scientific poll of The Diamondback’s newsroom showed that we’re all smarter than our parents — other than baseball beat writer Mike Lemaire, whose dad graduated valedictorian from Brown University. So there you have it. College students’ grades have increased because students are getting smarter. Now if we could just figure out how to bring up our own grades…

Morning roundup: Getting smaller edition

Kevin Robillard — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:32:46 +0000

Everything seems to be shrinking today.

Your professor’s salaries. More than one-third of all college professors nationally had their pay cut last year, with the average pay cut totaling 3 percent, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. The drop comes after two consecutive years of four percent increases.
Protections for gay college employees in Virginia. Actually, those aren’t merely shrinking. They could disappear entirely. Newly elected Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II sent a letter to the state’s public colleges and universities, ordering them to drop the protections against discrimination for gay employees they’ve adopted, The Washington Post reports. He argues only the state General Assembly can grant those protections, which the colleges adopted unilaterally.
How much student loan reform would save. Earlier, the Congressional Budget Office had estimated President Obama’s proposed student loan reforms would save $87 million. Their new estimate? $67 million. Student loan providers, who vigorously oppose the bill, eagerly cited the new figure, The Chronicle reported. Inside Higher Ed reports Democrats may now turn to the legislative tactic called reconciliation to pass the bill.

Quick Hits

The university administration is hyping their fancy new budget central website, which debuts today. It has budget fireside chats with President Dan Mote and other new features. Look, it’s shiny!

Do you goof around on Facebook in class? You, too, can be a member of the Maryland General Assembly. The Post’s Ashley Halsey III reports a majority of the members of the House Judiciary Committee were playing on their laptops, three of them looking at Facebook, during a hearing in which relatives of drunk driving victims were weeping while telling their stories. You stay classy, state legislators.

Political prognosticator extraordinaire Stuart Rothenberg has downgraded Gov. Martin O’Malley’s chances at re-election from ‘Safe’ to ‘Narrow advantage,’ due to the likely forthcoming entrance of former Gov. Robert Ehrlich to the gubernatorial race.

Instead of paying his son’s $3,000 dorm bill, an ex-Philadelphia cop threatened to reveal Harcum College’s “illegal firearms” and “rampant drug use” to the district attorney, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Memories of March 3

Brady Holt — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:46:43 +0000

Whether you call it a riot or just an exuberant celebration, this student body’s reaction to the Terp victory over Duke last week attracted a multitude of cameras to Route 1.

The quality of the resulting videos that have appeared around the Internet varies wildly, from professional footage aired on CBS to a collection of blurry colors that appear to be shot with camera phones after a great deal of alcohol.

And anyone from outside of College Park who saw these videos may have noticed the “David’s Shoe Repair” and wondered whether they were looking at the set of a 1920s movie.

A cross section of these videos appear below. If you were at the College Park riot/celebration March 3, you may very well recognize yourself here:

Video by The Diamondback’s Adele Hampton (who got a face full of pepper spray to bring it to you):

Video by WUSA (Channel 9)

Video by WTOP:

CBS News video:

We all know the riot/demonstration happened at night — this video includes post-processing brightening to useful effect:

And three more:

Five things you should know about if you’re going to riot …

Kyle Goon — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:56:00 +0000

So I trust everyone had a good time last night. We at The Diamondback certainly did, working until 4 a.m. on our respective stories.

It occurred to me that people may have forgotten what actually happens to students who participate in riots — the last one was in 2006 after the women’s national championship game, which is before this senior class even came to the university. If you need a refresher and you either weren’t downtown last night or don’t remember much from last night, here’s some things you should know:

They look ready for a pinata party ...

> They come in a Tank: When the county and university forces gear up for a potential riot, they make sure to pack their guys into what basically is an armored bus. Last night, the “tank” moved in and deployed units to “disperse” students who reportedly had set fire to a tree near Montgomery Hall. If you see it coming, you should probably start moving in the opposite direction. It doesn’t have a cannon, just a whole lot of officers inside with riot shields and nightsticks.

> They don’t have “rubber” bullets, but they have something that stings: When I asked University Police spokesman Paul Dillon last night if riot-control units were using rubber bullets, he corrected me: “We have FN 303s.” It’s known as the “less lethal launcher,” and it’s what the Army uses to get people to stop throwing stones at them. It appears from this video to be pneumatically powered, sort of like a paintball gun, but it takes people out. I wouldn’t want anything called “less lethal” pointed at my body.

>Tear gas is not fun: How do we know police used tear gas last night to disperse the crowd? At least four of our staff members got hit with the stuff, and they’ll be the first to tell you it sucks. There were reports last night of people who had their eyes swelled shut, and as you can see from this video of a Canadian protest, it also causes nausea. What should you do if you get sprayed in the face? Our staff recommends rinsing the afflicted area with milk to help neutralize the chemicals in the gas. Otherwise, you’re in for a long night.

> They can call in the cavalry: Some students were surprised to see officers on horseback — don’t be. University Police and Prince George’s County Police had teamed up with Park Police to get in mounted officers. Dillon observed that the horses were pretty effective at getting people to move away, and as we all know from Braveheart, it’s pretty hard to win a battle without cavalry.

> You’re not just going to get arrested: That’s right, you can be kicked out of school. Any students arrested can also be referred to the Office of Student Conduct for university sanctions. Although in the last riot sentencing was relatively light, the administration has warned in the past that any punishment for students involved in a riot would be harsher than last time. That means mom and dad won’t be too happy.

Final Note: For those who got injured in the rioting, if you’re looking into legal action against the cops, be aware that precedent is not on your side. A student injured in a Duke riot in 2005 sued county police officers after he said he was shot with what he claimed was an FN 303 round near his eye, but he lost the case. The message police drew from that was if a student is in a crowd of rioters, they’re part of the riot — even if they are trying to help other students or covering the event for student media. Maybe you’ll have more luck, though.

Time for some more racism

Kristi Tousignant — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:21:12 +0000

Just when you thought you were done hearing about racism at universities, turns out ignorance is striking a little closer to College Park this time.

UC San Diego may be ablaze with controversy over students hanging nooses in the library and fraternities hosting “Compton Cookouts,” but Towson University fired a professor after he made a racist comment during class.

Professional artist Allen Zaruba, who is an adjunct professor at the university, compared his rights and situation as an adjunct to “a n***** on the corporate plantation.”

Adjunct Professor Allen Zaruba

A student reported him after the class and Zaruba was fired over the phone. Though Zaruba apologized, he said his recent unemployment only proves his point that adjuncts get few employment rights.

“I just finished talking to a lawyer,” Zaruba said. “I have no ability to appeal anything.”

Some students in his class, however, told Towson’s student newspaper, The Towerlight, that Zaruba, was honest and blunt in his language, something they did not have a problem with.

“He used the word to illustrate a point. He wasn’t trying to offend anyone. And obviously … we were understanding,” Maria Bernier, a sophomore studio art major said “And going into our class, you kind of should expect some level of shockingness and, you know, in your face [content].”

The kicker? Zaruba says his stepfather was black, a man he “loved dearly”.

“I am not a racist,” he said. “I never have been. I’ve been raised overseas and in other cultures. It just absolutely kills me.”

Proverbs or Playboy bunnies

Allison Stice — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:48:24 +0000

Bible?

Or bunny?

The way members of the Atheist Agenda at the University of Texas-San Antonio see it, UTSA students have more use for Penthouse or Playboy than the Quran or the Bible.

The student atheists kicked off their highly publicized annual “Smut for Smut” campaign on Monday, manning a booth in the middle of a crowded campus plaza where passersby can trade in religious texts for pornography.

In past years, the controversial publicity stunt has garnered new members and a ton of press, including a chance for an Atheist Agenda president to debate Tucker Carlson on MSNBC in 2005.

This year, hundreds of protesters circled the booth, singing hymns and holding signs that read “Jesus Saves” and “Jesus Loves the Atheist Agenda”. The student atheists held their ground on the stairs of a campus building, proclaiming their belief that texts like the Bible promote misogyny, intolerance, violence and genocide. Meanwhile, agnostics sat in the middle, attempting to keep the peace between the two sides.

And now for a breakdown of the factions. From the San Antonio Express-News:

“It’s a First Amendment right,” said Bradley Lewis, 18-year-old freshman from Pearland who said he plans to join the Atheist Agenda. “If religious groups can put out missionaries and go knock on my door and wake me up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning, I can put a table outside of the college.”

Robin Lorkovic, an 18-year-old freshman from Houston, disagreed. Lorkovic stood near the “Smut for Smut” table holding a cardboard sign that said “God Loves You! Keep your Bible and learn from it!”

“I don’t really feel like that is appropriate at all,” Lorkovic said. “I am a Christian, I believe in God’s love and I am here to stand my ground and stand up for what I believe in.”

Let’s hear from the agnostics, quoted in the UTSA student newspaper The Paisano:

“Well, we don’t really believe in either side. We believe both foster hate,” UTSA junior Victoria Arzu said. “They know they’re doing it for show, and they know that either party could be mistaken in their beliefs. We choose an agnostic position because it’s the smartest thing to do.”

Later in the afternoon, Atheist Agenda president Carlos Morales debated one of the Christian protesters in a civil fashion before the crowd. And that’s really what the event is all about, those involved say:

“This is ultimately why this is going on,” Lewis said. “It’s an ice breaker to get people talking about these things.”

Morning Round-Up: Apologies Edition

Kristi Tousignant — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:08:58 +0000

A student who hung a noose in a library at UC apologized in a letter in the student newspaper this morning. The (minority) student said that she and friends had been playing around with a rope, made it into a noose, then accidentally left it in the library.
The incident flaired concern about racial relations and sparked protests of prejudice across the campus. Students held a protest outside the Chancellor’s office friday, calling for the university to be shut down and respond to a list of demands from the Black Student Union.

Protests at UC San Diego

Tensions had already been running high at the California university after a fraternity held an off-campus “ghetto-themed” party weeks before.
Though the letter was anonymous, the student has been suspended and is under investigation by campus officials.

Quick Hits:
The Fort Totten Metro site is inspected for wildlfe after employees were caught feeding raccoons.

A new report finds Maryland, Virginia and D.C. lagging behind other states in preparing students for college.

And, hey, apparently tickets for the Maryland-Duke basketball game tonight are the hottest in years. One law student in a Baltimore Sun article, could not afford tickets, and put out an ad on Craigslist offering free legal services in exchange for the coveted tickets.