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Our 101ST Year, No. 72THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPERThursday, December 9, 2010

Senate discussesGeneral Ed. plans

BY LAUREN REDDINGSenior staff writer

As the University Senate sparredover the new General Education Planlast semester, an unanswered questionlingered throughout the debates: Howwill such an expansive overhaul beimplemented?

Yesterday, the body finally got itschance to explore the issue as under-graduate studies Dean Donna Hamil-ton presented the specifics of how theCORE curriculum will transition intothe new plan. But in a stark contrast tolast year’s discussions, remarks of sup-port replaced most of the critical inputon the implementation plan — a signmany said shows the university is coa-lescing behind the plan.

“We have a great community rally-

ing around a good idea,” Hamiltonsaid after the meeting. “It sounds likewe have great interest in the plan. I’mgrateful for the degree to which peo-ple have embraced a new way for-ward for the university.”

The plan, which details guidelineson how faculty members shoulddevelop new courses and the processby which they will be approved, wassplit into five categories for senators tocomment on during the meeting: gen-eral education learning outcomes, fac-ulty boards, guidelines and require-ments for the course categories, thetransition out of CORE and a categoryfor other miscellaneous concerns.

Senators commented on just threeof the categories, mostly suggesting

Body largely supportive of transition details

Undergraduate studies Dean Donna Hamilton, chairwoman of the generaleducation implementation committee, presents a transition plan to theUniversity Senate. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Oakland Hall housing will favor groupsSingle-sex ‘semi-suites’ of four, co-ed floors will make up new dorm

BY ERIN EGANStaff writer

Sophomores and juniors whoknow whom they want to live withmay have a better chance of securingslots in Oakland Hall next fall.

Resident Life Department officialssaid they will favor pre-selectedgroups of four to fill the building’scombined-double “semi-suites.”

The Residence Hall Association

discussed plans for the 720-bed highrise at its Tuesday meeting, wheresenators approved both the selectionprocess and a plan to interminglemale and female suites on all floorsbut the first.

Each “semi-suite” in the building,which remains under construction inthe Denton community, is comprisedof a pair of two-person bedrooms con-joined by a bathroom, officials said,adding that there are a limited number

of more-conventional double and sin-gle rooms. Priority for the first floorand the few doubles and singles will goto students with disabilities. Remain-ing slots would be filled by a lottery,senators said.

“We’ve been working with [Resi-dent Life Director] Deb Grandnerand the ResLife staff to hash outevery single detail of housing with

Students bemoantiming of shutdown

The 7-Eleven convenience store onKnox Road will close for renovationsthat store owner Million Mekonensays will take about a month to finish.JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

Downtown7-Eleven willclose forrenovations

BY LAUREN KIRKWOODStaff writer

Students, faculty and staff memberstraveling to and from Greenbelt maysoon face a more difficult commuteafter a Metrobus line that serves part ofthe city will no longer travel as far intothe city beginning Dec. 20.

The C2 line, operated by the Wash-ington Metropolitan Area Transit Au-

thority, will end at the Greenbelt Metro-rail station instead of traveling intoGreenbelt Center, forcing passengersfrom the campus to transfer onto a G13,G14 or G16 bus to continue to the origi-nal destination in the Old Greenbeltneighborhood.

The other buses will travel betweenthe Greenbelt and New CarrolltonMetrorail stations, WMATAspokesman Reggie Woodruff said.

WMATA’s change to the C2 line ispart of a broader restructuring of thetransit agency’s bus service to Green-belt, Woodruff said. He wouldn’t sayspecifically why the line was truncated,but he said the route may have seen lowridership numbers, which would havebeen a factor in the decision.

“All changes are made to provide the

Transfers will be necessary to reach Greenbelt Center from campusGreenbelt Metrobus will limit service by month’s end

see GREENBELT, page 3

see SENATE, page 2

see OAKLAND, page 2

BY LEAH VILLANUEVAStaff writer

Faithful patrons of the downtown 7-Eleven will have to get their midnightsnacks and early morning coffee else-where during the latter half of finalsweek as the store shuts its doors forrenovations.

The 7-Eleven on Knox Road will closenext Wednesday at midnight for a fullremodeling, which is expected to takefour to five weeks, according to storeowner Million Mekonen. He said thatwhile it is hard to say whether all therenovations will be complete by thetime school starts up again on Jan. 24,

see RENOVATIONS, page 2

DemystifyingMadam Flora

Local psychic shop has no illicit undertones, police say

BY BEN PRESENTSenior staff writer

It’s one of the most widely spread rumors atthis university.

If you go to Madam Flora — a palm-readingstop located about a mile north of the campus onRoute 1 — and ask for “change for a penny,” youend up paying a little more than a penny for a lotmore than a palm reading.

But after undercover Prince George’s CountyPolice officers recently tested the line at MadamFlora more than once and came up blank, ownersof the “family-oriented” business said they hopethis will finally put an end to what they callednothing more than a rumor that students occa-sionally attempt to cash in on.

On two separate occasions, District 1 Com-mander Robert Liberati said, undercover policeofficers went into Madam Flora, which isrumored to double as a brothel, and attempted

to solicit something extra by using the well-known phrase. Both times it didn’t work.Liberati couldn’t offer many details, noting hedidn’t want to compromise the identities of thecounty’s undercover officers.

“I’m sure they were dressed to blend withwhatever the clientele [at Madam Flora] is,”

see FLORA, page 3

ILLUSTRATION BY SHAI GOLLER/THE DIAMONDBACK

Prince George’s County Police ran undercoverchecks on Madam Flora earlier this month.JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

2 THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010

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he is aiming to reopen the storefor service by then.

Mekonen said the goal of theremodeling is to expand thestore in a way that will maximizestorage and service space, buthe added that he is still workingout the details of the new floorplan with the contractors.

“We’ve been having spaceissues where space is so tightin the store,” Mekonen said.“We want better servicespace, better counters, maybemore registers.”

For several regular studentpatrons, hearing that their go-tostop for quick essentials will beclosed for half of finals weekcame as an unpleasant surprise.

“It’ll be very inconvenient,seeing as I have exams Fridayand Thursday, because this iswhere I get my coffee,” juniormarketing major Austin Gam-bino said. “I mean, it’s not thebiggest deal in the world, but it’sstill a pain in the ass.”

Other students had the samenegative reaction.

“I love 7-Eleven,” senior gov-ernment and politics majorDean Lacko said. “They shouldhave put up a sign or something.I mean, where the hell am Igoing to get my snacks now?”

Other students said it wouldnot be too much trouble to findalternatives, such as the 24-hourCVS Pharmacy across the streetor the 7-Eleven near the inter-section of Route 1 and BerwynRoad. But for some, the conven-ient location and small-conven-ience-store feel of the downtown7-Eleven can’t be matched.

“The thing with CVS is it’s sobig,” Lacko said. “I mean, hereyou walk in and you knowexactly where everything is, andit’s all easy to find, but in CVS,it’s like a process.”

The 7-Eleven will be closingthe same day that the China Cafénext door reopens. It has beenclosed and undergoing a fullremodel since mid-November.

[email protected]

RENOVATIONSfrom page 1

Oakland Hall,” Senator KevinLaCherra said. “This is some-thing that I’m very proud of.We’ve put a lot of work into this.”

Some senators, includingDenton Hall Senator JenniferSpangler, expressed concernabout the single-sex first floor,saying there are already individ-ual dorms with this system.

“I think it might be takingaway opportunities to live co-edfor students who want to live co-ed,” Spangler said.

But other RHA senators —including Manpreet Khural,who co-authored the resolutionto support the housing arrange-ments — said most existingdorms on the campus are sepa-rated into single-sex hallways.

Oakland residence eligibilitywill be determined through alottery system similar to that ofother dorms, although the RHAvoted to support the ResidentLife plan giving priority to stu-dents who have arranged ontheir own to fill up a suite.

“We thought that it would bebetter to have a whole group pre-set,” said Senator Sivan Shachar,who is on the Resident Life Advi-sory Team within the RHA.“They would know each other,and it would minimize debates.”

Resident Life will assist stu-dents in meeting potentialroommates if they do notenter as a group of four,Shachar added.

“We’re thinking about using

social networking sites to helpstudents meet each other, butwe haven’t made any final deci-sions yet,” he said.

Freshman Spanish majorMary-Kate Cronin said shethought it was a good idea togrant Oakland housing priorityto four-person groups.

“I like the fact that priority isgiven to those entering as a four-some, mainly because that iswhat my friends and I plan ondoing,” Cronin said. “I think thatco-ed by suite will be better thanthe current setup in normaldorms because it’s easier tomeet people that way.”

Raakhee Mallick, a sopho-more secondary educationmajor who is considering apply-ing for Oakland Hall, said hewas glad to see a new type ofdorm on North Campus.

“I think it’s really useful. Notonly are current sophomoresbasically guaranteed on-cam-pus housing, but if I wanted tolive in a suite, now I can do it onNorth Campus,” Mallick said.“Suites are usually South Cam-pus-based, so it’s interestingthat they’re opening that up toNorth Campus now.”

RHA Vice President TaylorCole said the body has spent thewhole semester putting togeth-er concepts for Oakland Hall.

“I really appreciate howmuch the university comes tothe student body and gets us in-volved before making changes.It’s a great system,” Cole said. “Ifstudents don’t like it, we can al-ways change it later on.”

[email protected]

slight language changes to makethe plan clearer to students.

Hamilton said faculty senatorTom Cohen made one commentin particular that stood out to thecommittee, suggesting the newplan find a way to better incorpo-rate the Honors College, whichisn’t mentioned at all in the cur-rent document.

Cohen said he feared the “I”-series courses — innovative,seminar-style classes of whichstudents are required to taketwo under the new plan —would overshadow honors sem-inars and requested the com-mittee explore making honorsclasses count for “I”-seriescourse fulfillment.

“My question is,” Cohen said,“Will the committee sort of goback and try to build in protec-tions for the Honors College or atleast find some way that meshesthe Honors College as perfectlyas possible into the new plan?”

Hamilton said the issue of in-corporating the Honors Collegeinto the new plan was some-thing the committee had beengrappling with over the last fewmonths and will revisit for dis-cussion before the plan officiallycomes to the senate in February

for a vote. Committee memberDoug Roberts, associate dean ofthe computer, mathematical andnatural sciences college, saidthe committee is also dealingwith translating courses fromthe College Park Scholars andGemstone programs into thenew plan.

Another comment, made bySenate Executive Committeemembers Valerie Orlando andSteven Petkas, suggested thename of the Cultural Competen-cy diversity requirement —which aims to teach studentscross-cultural skills with a globalworld view — be changed to Cul-tural Capacity.

“[Cultural Competency] im-plies a level of basic qualification— a threshold, if you will — that,once attained, leaves a studentable to check that item off a list ofdesired learning goals,” Petkasread from a prepared statement.“... We have serious doubts that in-dividuals who live, learn and workin today’s diverse societies areever truly culturally competent.”

Orlando said the phraseCultural Capacity wouldevoke a more realistic experi-ence for students.

“Capacities have no thresh-old,” she said. “They also implythat learning is not a finite taskbut a lifetime commitment.”

Hamilton asked for Orlando to

send her the prepared statementfor the committee to review,adding she was grateful such arecommendation was presented.

Ira Berlin, a history professorwho chaired the committee thatdrafted the original General Edu-cation Plan, said he was especial-ly happy with positive studentfeedback from the undergradu-ate senators.

Undergraduate senatorDoron Tamari proposed thecommittee look into makingmore “I”-series science coursesinto lab classes, but supportedthe plan altogether.

“As a student who didn’t loveCORE, I appreciate all the stuffyou guys have done,” he told thecommittee. “This is basically theissue that made me want to be-come a senator. You guys havedone a great job with that.”

Hamilton said she hopes thesenate will continue to show sup-port at February’s vote. But inthe meantime, Berlin said his vi-sion of the curriculum overhaulis being seen though by the im-plementation committee.

“I think what we heard todaywas an embracement of the plan,”he said. “We put out a template ofthis plan, and now people are fill-ing it in. It’s a process of great cre-ativity, and it’s wonderful.”

[email protected]

Resident Life will favor students applying in groups of four tolive in Oakland Hall. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

SENATEfrom page 1

OAKLANDfrom page 1

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receive the 5th day FREE!

Call 314-8000 for moreinformation.

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Liberati said.He said the officers were told

the notion that the businesswas anything more than adver-tised was a mere wives’ tale.

“This is a family business,”said Larry Miller, aspokesman for Madam Flora.“This [rumor] has been goingon for a while, and I’d like forit to stop.”

Miller said when palm read-ers started getting therequest, they didn’t knowwhat it meant. Once a patronexplained what it was sup-posed to suggest, the psychicshop made it a habit to askthose who test out the rumorto leave — without a palmreading or anything else.

Flora’s employees haveeven threatened to call thepolice, Miller said.

Inside, the business looksas nondescript as they come.The living room, freshly deco-rated for the holidays, housesa big-screen TV and a coupleof couches scattered about thelargely empty space. Hunter, aGerman shepherd, greets visi-tors as they enter.

A small side room, no big-ger than a walk-in closet, iswhere the fortune tellingtakes place.

Miller said students fre-quently use the shop for its des-ignated purpose — to get theirfortunes told and palms read.

Prices range from $25 for apalm reading to $75 for a crys-tal ball reading.

“Sometimes you just getthese quacks that want tocome in and say stupidthings,” he added.

Still, the rumor persistsamong students, many ofwhom will swear that theyknow someone, who knows

someone, who has success-fully solicited sex at Flora’s.

“I actually am a little sur-prised,” junior history majorAryaan Azarbarzin said afterhe learned police declared therumor false.

Azarbarzin said he hadheard of a student, whosename he didn’t know, confirm-ing the tale years back. But asmost rumors go, he added, hecouldn’t say for sure.

“I’d say like 50-50 [it actuallyhappened],” he said.

Other students said“change for a penny” is one ofthose stories everyone passesaround but never bothers toactually test.

“It’s one of those things youhear as a freshman, but no oneactually does it,” sophomoreEnglish and chemistry majorChris Kelly said. “All mycreepy friends know about it.”

[email protected]

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK 3

UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY CHAPLAINCY PRESENTS

ADVENT &CHRISTMAS

CONCERTSUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2007

7:30 pm, Memorial ChapelUniversity of Maryland, College Park

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

Followed by Holiday Reception

Featuring:

• Debut of the Maryland Palestrina Choir,performing Renaissance motets by Palestrina,Victoria, and SweelinckJanet Hagelgans, Director

• Femmes de ChansonJulie Thomas, Director• Julie Thomas, Gillian Kraus-Neale, Alicia Waller

(Soprano Soloists)• Cara Fleck (Harp)• Eliza Ching (Piano)

• Sing your favorite seasonal carolsFor more information:

Contact Chaplain Holly Ulmer at (301) [email protected], www.ucmcollegepark.org

UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY PRESENTS

ADVENT &CHRISTMAS

CONCERTSUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010

7:00 pm, Memorial ChapelUniversity of Maryland, College Park

Featuring:

Maryland Palestrina Choir ✶ Josh Perry-Parrish, Director

Maryland Cantabile ✶ Ruth Kastner, Director

Männermusik ✶ Joseph Shortall, Director

David Ballena, Pianist

Soloists from the University of MarylandSchool of Music

FREE EVENTEVERYONE IS WELCOME!Followed by Holiday Reception

A free-will offering will be taken for S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat)

For more information:Contact Chaplain Holly Ulmer at (301) 405-8450

[email protected], www.ucmcollegepark.org

SGA edits group approval processBY SARAH MEEHAN

Staff writer

The SGA has modified its gov-erning rules and procedures ahandful of times already this year— changes it usually saves untilthe end of each spring semester.And last night, it did it again.

Student Government Associa-tion members unanimously sup-ported revisions to the StudentGroup Guidelines that wouldclarify the ambiguous criteria stu-dent groups must meet whenseeking SGA recognition.

The new rules make it clearerthat student groups must benondiscriminatory to receiveSGA funding, even though thatrequirement was already inplace, just in unclear terms. Theyalso spell out the process bywhich legislators decide whetherto approve groups.

The changes guarantee stu-dent groups experience fair in-teractions with the SGA, said let-ters and sciences legislator RobDiMauro, who wrote the bill.The new rules also explain theauditing process used to reviewmoney allocated to each groupand detail the process forgroups to renew their recogni-tion, which must be repeatedeach academic year.

Representatives said theamendments were necessary tokeep both the SGA and individualgroups on their toes.

“I think it offers protection forclubs that wasn’t in the bylaws be-fore,” SGA Director of StudentGroups Kaiyi Xie said.

The SGA made the revisionsin response to recent changesmade by the Office of CampusPrograms, which must approvestudent groups before they canrequest SGA funding. When theOCP updated its own student

group recognition process, andSGA officials said wanted to fol-low suit.

Xie said the changes were timesensitive because student groupswill be requesting primary fund-ing in the spring and that it’s im-portant both organizations abideby the same standards.

The new rules were also im-plemented in response to a JuneSupreme Court decision,whichsaid the University of California’sHastings College of the Lawcould deny funding to a studentgroup that discriminates. Theschool revoked the ChristianLegal Society’s charter for effec-tively excluding gay and lesbianstudents from membership.

The new guidelines reflect theSupreme Court’s decision, butDiMauro added there have notbeen similar issues at this univer-sity, and the changes will not im-mediately affect any existinggroups.

SGA Chief of Staff MichelleMcGrain added the changes arenot targeting any particulargroups and will streamline theSGA’s task of deciding whichgroups to approve.

“I think it will benefit both stu-dent groups and the SGA be-cause it specifies what is appro-priate for student group recogni-tion,” McGrain said. “Studentgroups will know the rules be-

fore they come to us, so we won’tbe responsible for making a poorjudgment call.”

Usually, the SGA saves struc-tural changes until the end-of-year omnibus bill, but this yearthe body has changed the way itdoes business several times — amove members said was inten-tional.

“As a body, we wanted to takeresponsibility for these things in-stead of pushing them off on thenext legislature,” McGrain said.“It shows that we as an organiza-tion are taking responsibility forthe issues we are dealing with.”

Earlier in the semester, theSGA reorganized the reading cal-endar used to evaluate proposedlegislation, tweaked electionrules, created an Audit and Re-view Committee and establisheda social justice liaison position torepresent minority students.

After those bills passed, Speak-er of the Legislature Kevin Fordsaid no more changes would bemade unless they were “neces-sary and imminent.” Xie said hemet with Ford to ensure thesechanges met those criteria.

“Even though certain mem-bers may object to changing thebylaws, ultimately they’re stillthere to serve the students,” Xiesaid.

[email protected]

SGA legislators voted last night to amend their bylaws to betterspecify the procedures and criteria for recognizing studentgroups and awarding funding. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Bill clarifies criteria for student groups to receive funding

FLORAfrom page 1

best service to customers basedon usage,” Woodruff said. “Wewant to make sure we’re notoverlapping with other bus serv-ices.”

The Department of Trans-portation Services offers a Shut-tle-UM line — Franklin Park-Greenbelt — to the same areathe WMATA C2 bus now serves.

“The area being abandoned bythe change to the C2 route iseither currently served by our#106 route, or within a very easywalk of an existing Shuttle-UM#106 bus stop,” DOTS AssistantDirector Beverly Malone wrotein an e-mail.

The Franklin-Park Greenbeltshuttle runs every 40 to 90 min-utes; the C2 stops on the cam-pus every 15 to 30 minutes.Timetables for the new G13,G14 and G16 buses have not yetbeen published.

As he got off a C2 bus at the“M” traffic circle, freshmancomputer science major AlvinHidayat said that although hedoesn’t ride the line to Green-belt himself, he could see itbeing a hassle for his fellow pas-sengers who do use it regularly.

“It could be inconvenient forsome people, but they musthave a reason for changing it,”he said. “Maybe the new routes

will work better.”Junior agricultural and

resource economics major Brit-tany Boettcher, who rides theMazza GrandMarc Shuttle-UMbus, said she sympathizes withriders who may have to dealwith transferring buses.

“It’s definitely a big inconven-ience for people to have to get on

two different buses to get here,”she said.

Woodruff said riders will seea net benefit to a shorter C2 line.

“The change is part of anoverall plan being implementedto improve service in the area,”he said.

[email protected]

GREENBELTfrom page 1

The C2 Metrobus serving Greenbelt will now run a shorter route,inconveniencing some riders. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

When people ask mewhere I live, I tell themthe University View. Acommon response to

this is, “Oh, really, that must be great. Ihear it’s really nice.” It is true that if youwere to stroll through either of theView’s two lobbies you might initiallybe impressed by its suave interiors. Byentering either Building 1 or Building2’s front doors, you will find a lobbypunctuated by shiny wood floors, airyspace and a marvelous likeness to afive-star hotel. Ah, but how quickly youare deceived! For I too was once a vic-tim of this trickery. Having lived to tellthe tale, I would like to expose to youthe reality of “luxurious” student living.

The View does a fine job of boastingabout the amenities it offers. However,be mindful of its inflated words. Takeone look at the View’s website, andyou will find that there is a “pool,” “24-

hour community patrol” and even“bicycle storage.” What it fails to makeclear is the hole in the ground called a“pool” is more akin to a wading poolyou might find in a senior citizens’home — it is just three feet deep. The“24-hour community patrol” operatesunder a haphazard protocol; some-times the guards sign people in, othertimes it seems as though a bomb-wielding terrorist could stroll rightpast them. Then, there is that wonder-ful “bicycle storage” it advertises —it’s just a bike rack outside.

For a place that prides itself as a

“premier student housing destina-tion,” the View fails to deliver whenit comes to quality of life. The wallsare paper-thin. I know this because Icould recite to you my neighbors’conversations. The pipes that carrywater to each bathroom set off a ter-ribly disturbing rumbling of thewalls. Each time you or your neigh-bor or even someone two floorsabove you decides to take a rinse, itsounds like we are the ones beingbombed by North Korea.

The other day, the View’s websiteunderwent a redesign. By chance, Ihappened upon the site only tonotice that it listed itself as the “pre-mier student hosing destination.”This, I thought to myself, was muchmore fitting.

These complaints would likely bebearable if they were the only nega-tives. However, there is a whole laun-

dry list of issues just like these. Yet byfar the most disconcerting aspect ofliving in the View is the paltry returnon your dollar. This housing is by nomeans inexpensive. I am ashamed tosay my own rent exceeds four digitsand that in my time here, I have seenlittle, if anything, that justifies its pay-ment. The management exhibits ageneral indifference while proceedingto waste your rent. For one, the View’slatest feature amenity is free tanningbeds. Who in his or her right mind stilluses those cancer-ovens? To addinsult to injury, residents are expectedto pay a utility surcharge for the beds.And I must say, it gives me great pleas-ure to know I am paying for people tolook like John Boehner.

Steven Spinello is a junior economicsmajor. He can be reached [email protected].

Opinion 3150 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL | COLLEGE PARK, MD 20742

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THE DIAMONDBACK MARISSA LANGEDITOR IN CHIEF

JUSTIN SNOWOPINION EDITOR

KEVIN TERVALAOPINION EDITOR

KATE RAFTERYMANAGING EDITOR

ANN SUNDEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

My fellow Americans, it iswith a heavy heart that Irelate to you the ruefultale of young Lily, a pleas-

ant girl from the heartland: Every morning before school, Lily’s

mother would pack Lily her lunch, andevery day Lily’s mother would make apeanut butter and jelly sandwich. Lily atethe peanut butter and jelly sandwich, andshe was always happy. But then one dayLily’s mother was in the store and hap-pened upon a new product: Smucker’sGoober Peanut Butter and Jelly Stripes.“How convenient,” thought Lily’smother, “I can use this wonderful pre-mixed product to make Lily’s sandwich.”

And so it was. Lily enjoyed the newsandwiches so much that she asked hermother to make two, and then three, forlunch. But soon Lily began to gainweight. Lily gained so much weight thatshe became fat, and she was diagnosedwith diabetes. Confident the SmuckerCo. would never sell a dangerous prod-uct, Lily’s mother ignored the label andcontinued packing her daughter alunch laden with sugar and trans fat.

After several years, Lily developed afoot infection, and both her feet wereamputated. No one asked footless Lilyto prom, and she was sad.

Lily’s mother was angry. No one hadtold her about the children whodevoured Goober until they fell into“food comas.” No one had told her about“Peanut Butter Jelly Time,” an Internetmeme wantonly propagated by the mar-keting arm of Smucker’s. No one hadtold her eating too much peanut butterand jelly could be bad. Lily’s motherblamed the media and the governmentand the school principal for Lily’s prob-lems, and she swore that no othermother would ever have to worry aboutbeing tricked by a shameless corpora-tion recklessly disregarding consumersafety to increase profit margins.

And so, several years later, Lily’smother heard about a new productcalled Four Loko, a drink that combinedboth alcohol and caffeine in one can. Shequickly assembled a coalition of pre-scient college administrators, sagaciousgovernment officials and altruistic jour-nalists — all of them intent on banning

the sale of Four Loko. They called them-selves Doubly-Informed Parents Suc-cessfully Honing InToxication Preven-tion Statutes, or DIPSHITS for short.The DIPSHITS have released a state-ment, which I present to you unedited:

“Erudite parents of the world, fearnot! By coercing the manufacturers ofFour Loko to remove caffeine from theirproduct, the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration has accomplished agreat thing for America. An amoral, nay,immoral corporation was hawking adangerously toxic concoction to ournation’s children, all under the guise ofan innocent fruit-flavored beverage.How dare these irresponsible capitalists— evildoers, all of them — sell a conve-niently premixed beverage?! Parentscan now sleep soundly at night, armed

with the knowledge their offspring areno longer able to drink libations contain-ing both alcohol and caffeine. Were itnot for the DIPSHITS, college kidswould all be drunk right now.

And yet, there is work to do. Everyday, ignorant imbibers integrate innocu-ous ingredients into ill-advised intoxicat-ing infusions. Vodka and Red Bull, rumand Coke, whiskey and coffee: Theseare but a few examples of the dangersbesetting our youth. That’s right, folks,even our youth are being corrupted bythese crass corporations. We must actnow to prevent further incidents of intox-icated imbibers; we propose the passageof precautionary legislation designed toprevent the sale of potentially dangerousproducts — vodka, rum, whiskey, RedBull, Coke and even coffee. Thesestatutes, a preemptive attack of sorts, willstrike down natural selection with unnat-ural protection! Behold, the ‘Loko Laws.’Details to follow. “

Christopher Haxel is a junior Englishmajor. He can be reached [email protected].

Loko laws: A tale of true absurdity

A sk someone to describe a typical university professor, and theanswer may be something along these lines: He is a man in his 50sor 60s with a beard, wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbowpatches. He smokes a pipe like Sherlock Holmes, drives a Volvo or

some other luxury car and lives in an expensive colonial-style home. Whilehe’s not rich, he’s done pretty well for himself — and certainly better thanthe rest of us.

This is the stereotype, perpetuated in countless movies and cartoons andembedded in the minds of millions. But reality is a bit different — there areplenty of professors who don’t smoke or wear tweed jackets. More impor-tantly, plenty of professors aren’t exactly raking in the dough.

But when it comes to furlough days, this perceptionof fat-cat professors making a fortune while teachingShakespeare and Darwin trumps truth and logic.

The University System of Maryland has faced threeconsecutive fiscal years with furlough days. Duringthose allotted days, state employees — including facultyand staff at this university — have been forced to takeleave without pay in order for the state to cope withbudget cuts and a tanking economy. And with the statestill facing a $1.6 billion shortfall in next year’s budget,furloughs may very well continue.

While for some, days off may not sound all that bad,furlough days can have serious ramifications. As unpaid leave is paired withlayoffs and budget cuts, many have been forced to do more for less. And asProvost Nariman Farvardin noted earlier this semester, faculty and staffmorale has taken a serious hit in recent years, with “demoralizing” fur-loughs taking much of the blame. Indeed, furloughs have hurt morale somuch so that some faculty and staff members have begun looking for — andtaking — jobs elsewhere.

In June, when the latest round of furlough days was announced, Cynthia

Shaw, chairwoman of the University Senate’s staff af fairs committee, saidthe collateral damage of furlough days could impact recruitment as well asretention.

It’s tough to argue against the notion that furlough days are a far betteralternative to layoffs. Indeed, as Gov. Martin O’Malley stated in an inter-view with this editorial board before last month’s gubernatorial election,there is hardly a public employee in the nation that hasn’t faced a furloughday or pink slip. That said, the three consecutive years of furloughs in thisstate are no doubt a drastic shift from the years of prosperity that the statehad previously enjoyed.

With speculation that a new slew of furloughs may accompany O’Malley’s2012 fiscal budget, which is required to be balanced,next month, the consequences could be dire. Univer-sity President Wallace Loh has vowed to fight allfuture furlough days, and he has already been in dis-cussions with the chancellor of the state’s universitysystem, Brit Kirwan.

As O’Malley continues to draft his budget for thenew fiscal year, he should not look to furloughs as aneasy alternative to layoffs. Budget cuts are no doubt onthe horizon, as O’Malley signaled earlier this week bysending an e-mail to state employees with a link to aNew York Times article chronicling the difficult

choices states faced this year. O’Malley often lauds the strides higher educa-tion has made recently in this state. Such improvements, however, will provefor naught if faculty continue to bear the brunt of budgetary shortfalls.

Furloughs are sometimes necessary and often the lesser of two evils. Buttheir effect, which gets worse with each passing year, can be unpredictablydetrimental. As we await the governor’s new budget, we ought not forgetthe vital role university employees play. And their morale is anything butinconsequential.

Staff editorial

Our ViewThree years of furloughs havedramatically reduced faculty

and staff morale, and universityPresident Wallace Loh shouldbe commended for his strong

stance against them.

University View: Living in luxury?

CCHHRRIISSTTOOPPHHEERR

HHAAXXEELL

I t’s hard to believe that anothersemester has just gone by. Inthe midst of cramming for finalexams and trying not to get

frostbite in the ridiculously coldweather we’re having, it’s good tolook back at all the successful eventsand changes that have been madearound the campus this fall. The Res-idence Hall Association has beenworking very hard all semester toimprove resident life for on-campusstudents, and the members are gladto have made such a impact on somany students.

Our senate meetings were off to agreat start this year with our annualRHA Town Hall, where all studentswere invited to voice their opinionsabout changes they wanted to seeconcerning Resident Life, ResidentFacilities, Dining Services andTransportation Services. We werevery pleased to see such a largenumber of active students attend,especially those concerned with foodoptions in the dining halls, and weare now working on answering thequestions raised at that meeting.Additionally, our Dining Servicescommittee is well on its way to mak-ing real changes to the food optionshere on the campus, and we haveyou to thank for it.

This semester, we also created abrand new sustainability committeewithin the RHA, which has beenworking on a series of new sustain-ability initiatives, such as the Cam-pus Conservation Nationals competi-tion on North Campus. Beginningwith Recyclemania next semester,this new committee will be lookinginto decreasing the amount of plasticbottles used around the campus andvarious other environmentallyfriendly initiatives that will continueto make this university “America’sGreenest Campus.”

We also hosted more than 400 peo-ple from seven different states at theCentral Atlantic Affiliate of Collegeand University Residence Halls Con-ference last month, which markedthe first time the conference was everheld at this university. With the helpof volunteers from all parts of thecampus, we were able to gainnational recognition for our organiza-tion and for our university, which issomething we can all be proud of.

Regarding the dorms them-selves, we have had an enormousamount of events throughout thesemester that have provided stu-dents with opportunities to get toknow one another and have somefun in their halls. Everything fromDenton Hall’s Dungeon Extrava-ganza to the South Campus Com-mons Thanksgiving Feast to theannual Bel Air-Cambridge-Chester-town’s Got Talent event has been ahuge success and definitely addedto the fun, interesting atmospherethe RHA always strives to createwithin the dorms. Even next week,students can find pancake nights inseveral different dorms around thecampus to take a break from study-ing, because who doesn’t lovebreakfast food at midnight?

These are only some of the ideasthe RHA has implemented thissemester and that the organizationwill continue to look into after winterbreak. Considering how successfulour events and initiatives have been,we hope to continue to represent ourconstituents in the best way possibleand to make living on the campus thebest experience possible.

If you are interested in gettinginvolved with the RHA, there may bepositions opening for next semester.Please contact us at [email protected] or friend us onFacebook to give us your feedback.We are, and always aim to be, thevoice of on-campus students.

Corie Stretton is the public relationsand outreach officer for the ResidenceHall Association. She can be reachedat [email protected].

Editorial cartoon: Ian Rodenhouse

Fight furloughs

SSPPIINNEELLLLOOSSTTEEVVEENN

THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 20104

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.

A semesterin review

Address your letters orguest columns to the OpinionDesk at [email protected] letters and guest columnsmust be signed. Include yourfull name, year, major and day-and night-time phone num-bers. Please limit letters to 250words. Please limit guestcolumns to 550 words. Submis-sion of a letter or guest columnconstitutes an exclusive, world-wide, transferable license toThe Diamondback of the copy-right in the material in anymedia. The Diamondbackretains the right to edit submis-sions for content and length.

AIR YOUR VIEWS

Born today, you are likely togo through perhaps threedistinct phases of develop-

ment in your lifetime, and woe toanyone — friend or foe — whoexpects you to be consistentthrough the years. Fortunately,you thrive on just the kind oflearning and evolving that thestars have in store for you, andyou will almost always simply gowith it when you are driven inone direction or another in pur-suit of self-awareness and, ulti-mately, connection with others.You are not, however, one formeaningless pursuits, and if youfeel there is nothing to be gainedalong a certain path, you will in-stigate change in your own be-half.

There may be times in whichfrustration looms when you arenot able to do something rightthe first time, but with the properreminders, you are always ableto get back in the saddle and try,try again. After all, it’s all part ofyour journey of self-discovery.

Also born on this date areDonny Osmond, singer and actor;John Malkovich, actor; DickButkus, football player; BeauBridges, actor; Dick Van Patten,actor; Redd Foxx, comedian; KirkDouglas, actor; Margaret Hamil-ton, actress.

To see what is in store for youtomorrow, find your birthday andread the corresponding para-graph. Let your birthday star beyour daily guide.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)— Do what you can to freeyourself up in mind and body.Give yourself the royal treat-ment.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) —You may be tempted to ignore

certain conventions in order totest the waters and see whereit will lead you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) —Even something delicatelyconcealed is likely to come tolight before the day is out, soyou’ll want to avoid any false-hood.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — Amember of the opposite sexmay challenge your way ofthinking. There’s no need todiscount his or her ideas out ofhand.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) —You may be more nervousabout what you do know thanabout what you don’t — andother things are likely to betopsy-turvy, too.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — Aleave-taking of sorts needn’tbe difficult; both parties mustremember that this is only atemporary (though necessary)separation.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) —You’ll want to pass messagesfrom one party to another in amanner that inspires trust inthose for whom you are play-

ing go-between.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) —Because you’re not yet lockedinto anything, you should beable to consider a wider rangeof options than usual.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — Don’tlet your head dictate whatyour heart should be feeling atthis time, but your heartshouldn’t call all the shots, ei-ther.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) —The line between what youwould call a good time and abad time is likely to becomesomewhat blurred towardday’s end.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Amatter of taste may keep youfrom doing something that, co-incidentally, isn’t likely to beapproved of by a loved one.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) —You may have to convinceyourself more than anyoneelse that what you have on thedocket is really the best thingfor all concerned.

Copyright 2010United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

ACROSS1 Order around5 “— a break!”10 Down Under

rockers14 Found a roost15 “Jaws” milieu16 Karate blow17 Comic — Rudner18 Wild pigs19 Dear, in Venice20 Puffy hairdo22 Harmful bacteria23 Some narcs24 Meg or Nolan26 Perk up29 Loyalties33 Bloodhound clues34 Comet features35 CAT scan relative36 Has the flu37 Window sill38 Bandy words39 Follow

relentlessly40 Common

door sign41 This and that42 Bad accidents

(hyph.)44 Pores45 Extensive46 Tabby’s plea48 Basketball move51 Super!55 Eros, in Rome56 Corn-chip name

58 Taboo (hyph.)59 Produced, as eggs60 Cared for61 Nice surprise62 Terminates63 Stay64 Blackthorn

DOWN1 Cutting remark2 Spicy stew3 In — (as found)4 Personnel5 Turn (2 wds.)6 PC screen

images7 Carnivore’s quest8 Put a dent in9 Annapolis grad10 Twang or drawl11 Burn slightly12 Frosh’s digs13 Tax pros21 Marshes22 Half the square

dancers24 Govern25 Connecticut

campus26 An awful lot27 Expression28 Longest river in

Europe29 Softens in color30 Force31 Wipe out a

floppy

32 Names on pedigrees

34 Fiesta Bowl site37 Noisy38 Exhibitions40 Scintilla

41 Explorer — Heyerdahl

43 Foils, e.g.46 Doled out47 Carve a canyon48 Whey-faced

49 Statuesque model50 Not legally

binding51 Polynesian

carving

52 Shiny wrap53 The lowdown54 Pigeon coop56 Gulf st.57 Umbrella part

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K O A N E R O D R SM A G E N T A A G U AA L I A S D E C O L L E T EC O S H G O T H E E R I EA N T I A R N E S T I C KW E S T D E A R T A C K S

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010 | THE DIAMONDBACK 5

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DiversionsBEST BET

RAILROAD EARTH AT 9:30 CLUBIn between getting your Don Zientara and A Jazz Piano Christmas fix, be sure tohead to Washington’s 9:30 Club tomorrow for a dose of Railroad Earth. Stillwa-

ter, N.J.’s finest progressive bluegrass band, Railroad Earth’s concerts are asclose to a hoedown as you’ll get on a Friday night in Washington. The Americana-playing six piece is touring in support of its new self-titled album, which recently

provided the band’s first debut on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $25.arts. music. living. movies. weekend.

PREVIEW | DON ZIENTARA

Playing by ear

BY SHARAD THAPER

Staff writer

For Don Zientara, establishing oneof the most successful local record-ing studios in Washington happenedalmost by chance.

Zientara founded Inner Ear Studioin his basement about 25 years ago.An artist by training, a recordingengineer by profession and a musi-cian on the side, Zientara gave Wash-ington’s punk bands a place to recordwhen options were limited.

Now Zientara is taking his turn infront of the microphone and playingwhat he calls “his brand of pop, folkand punk music” at the Black Cat inWashington tonight.

After receiving a master’s degreein painting and printmaking fromWest Virginia University, Zientarawas drafted by the U.S. Army andlater worked as an artist.

He then began working at theNational Gallery of Art, where hematted and framed drawings for exhi-bitions. His entry into the recordingindustry was an accident.

“I’ve been aroundrecording all my life,”Zientara said. “I’vealways been into elec-tronics and fixingthings. It was sort ofsomething I’d doneall my life, but I’dnever done it on aprofessional level.

“I was in themuseum’s recording stu-dio one day, and I saw thatthe workers were wiring up somethings the wrong way,” he said. “I

pointed this out to them, and theybasically said, ‘Do you want to runthis?’ I said sure, and I switchedinto recording.”

After spending some time at thegallery’s recording studio, Zientaraleft for a commercial studio and laterset up his own shop in his home. Hesoon found himself in the midst ofthe Washington punk scene.

“I landed in the punk scene byhappenchance,” Zientara recalled. “Iwas playing in a band with a mem-ber who later went onto more pro-gressive things than we were doingin the band. I recorded his band andfriends of his.

“That somehow got the attentionof Skip Gruff, who owned a recordstore that dealt with local music, andit just snowballed from there becauseno other studios were doing punkmusic at the time,” he said.

Zientara quickly found his niche asa recording engineer for punk bandsin the Washington area, since mostlocal studios at the time doubted themerits of punk music and were not

willing to work with them.Zientara, however,considered punk

music to be “a trueart form of thetime,” causing hisstudio to becomethe top choice forlocal punk bandsto record their

music. “Wouldn’t you want

to go to a place thatwould record the way you

wanted it to be recorded?” Zien-tara said. “We’re talking about being

represented well. In a sense, I am theprinter. If you put together a piece forthe newspaper and I can’t reproduceyour article accurately and makesure it appears on paper accurately,then I’m not doing my job.”

Zientara is perhaps most closelyassociated with bands on the punk-specializing Dischord Records, alabel founded by members of theband Minor Threat, including Zien-tara’s longtime friend Ian MacKaye.

In addition to collaborating withMinor Threat, he worked with TheDismemberment Plan, Rites ofSpring and MacKaye’s other proj-ects, including Fugazi.

Despite Zientara’s prolific workwith punk music, his own musicdoes not draw upon elements ofpunk rock as much as one mightexpect. Rather, he relies upon hisvisual arts background.

“My songs tend to focus onmelody and word play,” Zientara said.“The lyrical message is not as impor-tant as the play of words are —almost like automatic writing. In

Dadaism, a surrealistic period of the1920s, there was a lot to be said aboutautomatic writing. The artists tooktheir cue from the fact that [the art]doesn’t say much, but it’s beautifulthe way it does it.”

Performing for an audience is away for Zientara to understand theexperiences of the musicians heworks with and helps him become abetter recording engineer.

“What’s nice about performing isthat I want to feel empathy withpeople I record,” Zientara said. “Iwant to experience what they’reexperiencing.

“When musicians are standing infront of the microphone and record-ing their vocals, I can see wherethey’re coming from,” he added. “It’sall about getting the best out of thepeople who are performing in my stu-dio or myself performing onstage.”

Don Zientara will perform at theBlack Cat tonight. Doors open at 8:30p.m. Tickets cost $10.

[email protected]

online exclusiveJAZZING UP YOURCHRISTMAS

Picture this: four professional jazzpianists rocking out to “Jingle Bells.”

Welcome to National Public Ra-dio’s A Jazz Piano Christmas, anannual holiday season event thisthat features jazz pianists youngand old performing popular Christ-mas melodies.

The Kennedy Center will hostthe event live Saturday, with oneshow at 7:30 p.m. and the other at9:30 p.m. NPR will broadcast theevent a few days later, after edit-ing and producing it to air for ex-actly an hour.

Kevin Struthers, director of jazzprogramming at the Kennedy Cen-ter, said he could not be more excit-ed for the holidays and this show.

“At the holidays, it’s always entic-ing to celebrate the season,” hesaid. “It’s great to see original inter-pretations of classic songs.”

Jazz is indigenous American mu-sic and has constantly evolvedsince its development at the turn ofthe last century.

“Its real zenith was in the 20thcentury,” Struthers said.

“It was popular in be-tween the two

world wars, thenlost its focus. To-day, there is amixture of con-temporary and

traditional jazz.” The Kennedy

Center hosts an en-tire jazz season

throughout the year, including theDiscovery series that offers youngand unknown musicians visibility onthe jazz scene and the Louis Arm-strong Legacy Singer series, whichinvites an array of acclaimedsingers to perform. — David Oliver

For full reviews of themovies above, just clickthe Diversions tab at:

WWW.DIAMONDBACKONLINE.COM

Don Zientara performs at the Black Cat in Washington tonight. Zientarafounded Inner Ear Studios, above, which has hosted the recording sessionsof many area bands, including Minor Threat and Q And Not U.PHOTOS COURTESY OF INNEREARSTUDIO.COM/COBURN A. DUKEHART

Founder of landmarkWashington recording studio

plays on his own tonight

backcourt of Bowie, Tucker and SeanMosley combining for just eight points.

Stoglin, by comparison, scored 16 pointsoff the bench for the Terps, who ralliedbehind their reserves to tie the score latebefore eventually falling at Verizon Center.

“We have to get better. We’re not goodenough offensively yet,” Williams said afterthe loss to Temple. “We need plays likePe’Shon [Howard] and [Stoglin] gave ustonight. We need guys to step up.”

Williams said he didn’t decide on a start-ing lineup for last night’s game until Tues-

day evening after a team practice. Insteadof making decisions about the Terps’ start-ing lineup based on just one game,Williams said he would opt to instead lookat players’ entire workloads.

But so far this season, Stoglin has made abigger impact than either Bowie or Tucker.Against UNC Greensboro, Stoglin scored18 points, the third straight game in whichhe has scored more than Tucker or Bowie.

“He really believes in himself, and youcan’t shake him,” Williams said of Stoglin.“I think he’s got a chance to be an out-standing player along with a couple of ourother freshmen.”

Last night’s game would have been theperfect opportunity for Williams to giveStoglin, who has been thriving at pointguard, a place in the starting five. A chancefor the freshman to gain some experienceand build confidence by playing with theother Terp starters from the opening tipcertainly wouldn’t have hurt.

“I considered everything,” Williams saidwhen asked if he had seriously contem-plated changing the starting lineup. “Iwatched a lot of video and things like that.A lot of times, it’s a gut feeling.”

This isn’t about Bowie or Tucker beingshunned. It’s about how the two seniors —right now, at this juncture in the season —look like more viable options coming in offthe Terps’ bench.

Neither has proved he can handle a full-time starting gig just yet. With ACC playfast approaching, Stoglin warrants thesame kind of chance to lead the Terps thathe’s shown he deserves.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK 7

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BY CONOR WALSHStaff writer

Touted freshman forwardWhitney Bays will sit out thisseason as a medical redshirt forthe Terrapin women’s basket-ball team as she continues torecover from a torn ACL in herleft knee that she suffered insummer 2009.

Coach Brenda Frese saidBays, who will have four yearsof eligibility upon her returnnext season, “is still only about60 percent.”

Ranked as the nation’s No. 13recruit in this year’s freshmanclass by ESPN, Bays was one ofthe centerpieces of what might

be Frese’s best recruiting classin her nine years with the pro-gram. Only fellow freshman for-ward Alyssa Thomas, theteam’s second-leading scorer,was ranked higher (No. 7).

The West Virginia native wasalso recruited by top-tier pro-grams such as Connecticut,Duke and West Virginia.

“We want to be smart interms of being able to utilizeher for an entire season,”Frese said.

REBOUNDING DOMINANCEThe No. 22 Terps knew they

had length on their side cominginto this season. With five con-tributing post players standing

6-foot-2 or taller, it was clearthey had the potential to ownthe paint game after game.

The dominance the Terpshave shown in the paint so far,however, has been perhapsgreater than even they antici-pated. The team is outrebound-ing opponents by 18.9 pergame, a margin exceedingdefending national championConnecticut’s 18.1 and trailingonly Syracuse’s.

“It’s just about getting a bodyon somebody and boxing out,”said center Lynetta Kizer, wholeads the Terps in both scoringand rebounding.

Kizer is joined by forwardsDiandra Tchatchouang, Tianna

Hawkins and Thomas and cen-ter Alicia DeVaughn down low.The group comprises theteam’s five most prolific scorersand rebounders this season.

The depth at forward hashelped the Terps “throw wavesat opponents,” an oft-statedgoal of Frese that she says isparamount to a successful fast-break offense.

NEW LOOKSThe Terps continued to tin-

ker with different guard combi-nations in Tuesday night’s winat Loyola.

Frese has tried three differ-ent starting looks this season ata position that has been in flux

since the graduation of All-America point guard KristiToliver in 2009.

With Thomas, who was nurs-ing a leg injury, absent Tuesday,Frese employed a three-guardset against the Greyhounds,with hybrid guard/small for-ward Laurin Mincy starting inThomas’ place.

“We’re still trying to figureout some of our guard rota-tions,” Frese said after Tues-day’s game.

Guard Anjale Barrett hasstarted all but one game thisseason, rotating between thepoint guard and shootingguard spots for the Terps.Guard Natasha Cloud has

started six games at pointguard, while guard KimRodgers has rounded out thestarting lineup with four startsat shooting guard. Guard DaraTaylor leads the Terps inassists despite coming off thebench in all nine games.

The constant changes haveyet to yield consistent play.Mixing bright spots as play-makers with frequent lapses indecision-making, the Terpguards have contributed to ateam that ranks both second-best in the ACC in scoringdefense and second-worst intotal turnovers.

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WWOOMMEENN’’SS BBAASSKKEETTBBAALLLL || NNOOTTEEBBOOOOKK

Highly rated recruit Bays will redshirt; rebounding superiority continues

Dodds said of her newfoundresponsibility. “I think we can dosome big things this season.”

According to Nelligan, “bigthings” could mean a first-everEAGL Championship.

“With Abigail and Kesleycoming back and all the newgirls we have this year, I thinkthis is the most talent we’veever had,” he said. “We shouldbe the team to beat in the EAGLthis season.”

A first-place finish in the EAGLwould be a milestone achieve-ment for a program that didn’tbegin offering scholarships until1995 — almost 20 years aftermost of its competitors.

“We’re still trying to over-come the fact that we got startedso much later than a lot of ourcompetition,” Nelligan said.“We’re a team on the rise, but Ithink we’re ready to compete ina major way.” TERP NOTE: The Terps willhost their annual intrasquadscrimmage at 7 p.m. tomorrowin the Comcast Center Pavilion.Terrapin football quarterbackand ACC Rookie of the YearDanny O’Brien will be amongthe guest judges participating.

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PREVIEWfrom page 8

kept his normal starting lineupintact despite speculation hemight make a change, trotting outguards Adrian Bowie and CliffTucker for tip-off as guards Ter-rell Stoglin and Pe’Shon Howardremained on the bench.

Tucker, who had scored a com-bined two points in the previous twogames, finished the first half with abuzzer-beater to hit double figuresfor the seventh game this season.Bowie scored a season-high 16points, missing just one shot fromthe field.

“I really believe in them,” GaryWilliams said. “They’ve been loyalfour-year players. That means a lotto me. They struggled a bit in acouple games, but that doesn’tmean they can’t be outstandingplayers for us this year.”

Stoglin continued his scoringsurge off the bench for the Terps (7-3), often driving to the basket andscoring easily inside. The freshmanfinished with 18 points, second onlyto Williams.

The Spartans (0-8) kept thegame close for the first 10 minutes,but a 12-0 Terp run in the middle ofthe first half put them away forgood. After Williams converted athree-point play, Stoglin grabbed asteal off the Terps’ full-court pressfor an easy layup.

“Once we got the momentumgoing, we wanted to keep it going,”Jordan Williams said. “We didn’twant to turn back. We wanted tokeep pushing. We didn’t want toslow down for anybody.”

Bowie and Tucker highlighted therun with back-to-back 3-pointers.After going just 3-for-13 from behindthe arc in their previous four games,the starting duo hit four of their firstfive from deep last night.

Bowie also picked up his play onthe defensive end. Five minutesinto the second half, the seniorblocked a seemingly open Spartanlayup after a Terp turnover.

“We had it going,” Bowie said.“We wanted to come out stronger.Hopefully, it will carry forward therest of the season.”

The dominant win, though,might have been more of an indict-ment of the Terps’ target insideComcast Center. Far from theSouthern Conference’s best offer-ing, the Spartans were coming offlosses to Wofford and Furman by acombined 35 points.

That mattered very little to a teamhappy to be winning again last night.

“It’s frustrating because wereally could be undefeated rightnow,” Jordan Williams said. “A cou-ple plays here and there, a coupleloose balls, some free throws andwe’re undefeated. We know howgood we can be.”

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Forward Jordan Williams recordedhis eighth double-double last night.JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

ENGELKEfrom page 8

SPARTANSfrom page 8

How long is it going to take forGary Williams to give TerrellStoglin a chance in the start-ing lineup?

That was surely the question some fanswere asking shortly after tip-off last night,when the Terrapin men’s basketball coachseemingly had a perfect opportunity togive his freshman guard a starting nod.

UNC Greensboro was and still is winlessthis season, never coming within doubledigits against an opponent all year — notagainst East Carolina, not against Wofford

and not even against Furman, which PennState defeated handily by 21 points.

It’s safe to say last night’s 99-56 Terpvictory was expected.

So don’t put too much weight in theimpressive stat lines of guards CliffTucker and Adrian Bowie. The Spartansare one of the worst teams in Division I,and it showed last night. Tucker’s 13points and Bowie’s 16 likely say moreabout the Spartans’ lack of talent than asudden resurgence from the two sen-iors, who had dismal outings againstTemple in the BB&T Classic.

Many fans hoped, and some mediamembers believed, Sunday’s gameagainst the Owls could be Williams’ tip-ping point. The Terps trailed by 15 at onepoint in their eventual 64-61 loss, with the

8 THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010

SportsMore Franklin rumors

Check out TerrapinTrail.com for the latestwhisperings surrounding Terrapin footballoffensive coordinator James Franklin’s future.

Guard Terrell Stoglin scored 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting in the Terps’ 99-56 win against UNC Greensborolast night. Forward Jordan Williams led all scorers with 23 points. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

Freshman Katy Dodds springs off the vault at practice yesterday. The Terps will hold theirintrasquad scrimmage tomorrow at Comcast Center Pavilion. MATTHEW CREGER/THE DIAMONDBACK

GGYYMMNNAASSTTIICCSS || SSEEAASSOONN PPRREEVVIIEEWW

Healthy and hungry, Terps set tospring forward with new talent

BY CONNOR LETOURNEAUStaff writer

After losing six seniors fromlast year’s squad, the Terrapingymnastics team is looking toprove that talent can trumpexperience this season.

Until injuries derailed theteam’s title aspirations, theTerps appeared poised for abreakout season in 2009-10.After earning a GymInfo Top25 ranking for the first time inmore than five years, theundermanned squad strug-gled at the end of the season,failing to qualify for the NCAATournament.

After entering the eight-team East Atlantic GymnasticsLeague Championship as theNo. 2 seed, the Terps placedsixth. The disappointment con-tinued with a last-place finish atthe NCAA Southeast RegionalChampionship.

Should the Terps improvethis season, second-year coachBrett Nelligan will likely havegotten help from one of thenation’s top recruiting classes.Nelligan hopes the squad’s fivefreshmen can fill the void leftby Brandi George and MicheleBrenner, All-EAGL performerswho guided the Terps to a 50-71 record during their fouryears in College Park.

“We had a great senior classlast year,” senior AbigailAdams said. “But now it’s timefor this year’s upperclassmento take on that leadership roleand teach the freshmen every-thing we were taught.”

Headlining what Nelligancalls the “best freshman classin school history” are twohigh school national champi-ons, Karen Tang and Eliza-bethe Manzi. Tang was the2009 Junior Olympic floorexercise champion, whileManzi won beam at the Level10 nationals.

With half of the Terps’ beamlineup lost to graduation,

Manzi’s skills could prove par-ticularly valuable this season.

“Having Manzi is huge forus,” Nelligan said. “She hasthe ability to score a 9.9 or bet-ter [on the beam] any givennight. She should be one ofthe top gymnasts in the coun-try at that event.”

In addition to a wealth ofyoung talent, the Terps arebuoyed by the return ofAdams, the reigning EAGL All-Around Champion, and sopho-

more Kesley Cofsky, last sea-son’s EAGL Rookie of the Year.

Adams, who Nelligan said ison track to become the mostaccomplished gymnast in Terphistory, will lead the team onthe uneven bars and the floorexercise. Katy Dodds, anotherhighly-touted freshman, willanchor the Terps on the vault.

“There’s definitely a lot ofpressure, but it’s exciting,”

JAKOBENGELKE

MMEENN’’SS BBAASSKKEETTBBAALLLL

Terps bounce backin Spartan blowoutWilliams, Stoglin lead charge in 99-56 victory

BY CHRIS ECKARDSenior staff writer

On a fast break late in the first half lastnight, Jordan Williams rose over a help-less UNC Greensboro defender andslammed in a one-handed alley-oop fromguard Cliff Tucker.

By halftime, the Terrapin men’s basket-ball forward had all but secured hiseighth double-double of the season with14 points and nine rebounds.

And by the end of the Terps’ 99-56 vic-tory against a reeling Spartan team thathas now lost all eight of its games this sea-son by double digits, Williams’ might andthat of his teammates had been made

patently obvious.“That was a big game for us to play

well,” coach Gary Williams said. “I knowwe were favored going into the game, butI wanted to play well.”

Jordan Williams finished with 23 pointsand 13 rebounds while also convertingseven of 11 free throws in a balancednight for the Terps’ offense.

“We’re being a lot more patient,” thesophomore forward said. “We’re allowingeach other to play our own games. We’relooking for other people.”

Three days after his team’s disappoint-ing 64-61 loss to Temple, Gary Williams

see SPARTANS, page 7

see ENGELKE, page 7

see PREVIEW, page 7

Spoiling a chanceto start anew

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

BY JACE EVANSFor The Diamondback

For most college students, theexcitement about what awaitsthem under the tree has waned asthey’ve grown older and wishliststo parents and others havereplaced letters to Santa Claus.And this year, many students maybe gifted with small envelopesrather than large boxes, if an ongo-ing trend continues.

Indeed, gift cards havebecome economic machines inthe last five years. According to asurvey conducted by theNational Retail Federation, anindustry lobby, gift cards are themost requested holiday gift forthe fourth consecutive year, andgift-card spending is expected toreach $24.78 billion.

Gift cards have long been a go-togift for young people, who are noto-riously fickle about everything fromclothing to music choices, espe-cially when gift-givers are unsure ofthe recipient’s tastes.

“It depends on who is giving it,”freshman business major CallieCaputo said about whether giftcards make good gifts. “If it’s fromrelatives or people you don’t knowthat well, it’s fine, but when closefriends give something, it shouldbe an actual gift that you have toput thought into.”

However, some students appre-ciate the flexibility of gift cards nomatter who they come from.

“I love gift cards because theyare basically like cash,” saidfreshman psychology majorNikkita Sarna. “Would yourather get something you don’twant or get something that isessentially cash?”

But freshman letters and sci-ences major Bryan Friia notedthat gift cards’ similarity to cashis precisely the problem.

“When you get a gift card, youwill not spend the exact amount onthe gift card,” he said. “You eitherlose money by spending more orby not using the gift card.”

Those are the effects that com-panies offering gift cards hope toencounter. According a 2006study conducted by Kiplinger, giftcards potentially bring in cus-tomers who might otherwise notshop in a particular store or eat ata certain restaurant. And on aver-age, people spend more thantheir gift cards are worth oncethey enter the store or restaurant.

Additionally, 27 percent of recip-ients let gift cards go unused,meaning retailers pocketed nearly$8 billion.

“I think it’s a huge scam,” saidfreshman business major SophieChen. “Cash is universallyaccepted everywhere; gift cardsare limiting. It comes off as morethoughtful to give a gift card thanjust cash, but when you thinkabout it, it’s just a waste.”

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2 THE DIAMONDBACK | HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010

Giving plastic presents

Some students opt to dole out gift cards, like those sold at the CVSdowntown, for the holidays. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

Students mixed about gift cards’ appeal

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BYMANDYDOMINELLIFor The Diamondback

Call it the Grinch, but finals season,it seems, may be putting a damper onholiday cheer among students.

Although many students said theyenjoy the decorations put up by theirfriends and neighbors, it seems asthough exams and essays may bemore prominent in their minds thancandy canes and sugar plums.

Unlike in the outside world, wheremany families begin setting up forChristmas the day after Thanksgiving,Michael Casto, a freshman music per-formance major, said he simply hasn’tfound the time to decorate his dormroom. And as far as he can tell, he said,he’s not the only resident in Centre-ville Hall late to the game.

“They decorated more for Hal-loween than Christmas,” Casto said,noting that Halloween has more of aparty atmosphere, inspiring people togo all-out with their decorations,whereas “party” is the last word stu-dents think of during finals.

José Fortún, a resident assistant inDorchester Hall, agrees.

“Halloween symbolizes more of a‘let’s have fun’ time, whereas the holi-days in December are geared moretowards families,” he said. “Peopletend to want to show off how intensethey can get for Halloween. ... ForChristmas, they’re typically excitedto get gifts from their families and tospend quality time at home.”

But some students are determinedto create winter wonderlands in theirhomes away from home.

Sophomore computer sciencemajor Ankeet Presswala said one ofhis neighbors has strung lightsaround his room and added a three-foot Christmas tree to his quarters.

Presswala said he wishes he couldbe as festive.

“I just haven’t had time to go andget my decorations,” he said. “But Iwould love to.”

Freshman landscape architecturemajor Lacreisha Phillips said herroommate has the opposite problem.

“[My roommate] bought Christ-mas lights, but she didn’t put them upyet,” she said.

Even so, while her own room maybe bare, Phillips has seen many pic-tures of her friends’ decorations.

“I think some people like it andsome people just don’t care,” Phillips

said of holiday decorations. She added that religion may be

one reason some students are less in-clined to decorate for winter holidays,a point echoed by several students.

For freshman education majorCarly Clark, however, religion is noobstacle to decorations.

Clark said she enjoys Christmasdecorations even though she is Jew-

ish. In fact, the only reason she hasn’tdecorated her own dorm room is be-cause she simply doesn’t have any-thing to decorate with.

“I love Christmas decorations,”she said. “I would do it if I had some.”

Presswala agreed: “I’ve never seenanybody offended by holiday spirit.”

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Decking the halls

This Elkton Hall door shows holiday spirit. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

BY BECCA LURYEStaff writer

The days of macaroni and glitterpicture frames are long gone. Instead,this holiday season, students are cro-cheting, drawing and crafting a per-sonal touch into their gifts.

Sophomore physiology and neu-robiology major Andra Naing, whocrochets laptop covers, coin purses,hats and hair accessories for friends,finds time by working betweenclasses and meetings.

“People just know me as alwayscrocheting,” said Naing, wholearned the technique when she was12. “And when I wear the [acces-sories], I get a lot of compliments,and it really does inspire other peo-ple to want to learn how to crochet.”

Naing said she draws ideas fromcraft blogs and makes her own pat-terns based on ones she finds online.

The closest source for craft sup-plies to the campus is Jo-Ann Fabricand Crafts in Prince George’s Plaza.Once there, Naing said she buyssmall balls of cotton yarn for up to $2— enough to cover a couple cellphones or make bushels-worth offlowers that she attaches to hair clips.

“Usually, everything I make Iknow, ‘Oh, I’ll use this yarn for thisperson,’ just by what they like,” Naingsaid. “I know their favorite color orwhat they’re gonna use it for.”

Last year, she made about 30 flow-ers, which take only 10 minutesapiece, as well as dozens of biggercrocheted projects. Naing said thehats are a big hit with guys.

Other handmade gifts take stu-dents a little longer. Junior studio artmajor Jane Joo spends more than 20hours on each of the paintings andillustrations she gives to close familyand friends.

In order to finish artwork whileshe’s at school and dealing with end-of-semester studying and assign-

ments, Joo relies on materials thatshe always has on hand: pen and ink.

The last piece Joo made was alsoher favorite, she said. Once com-plete, she gave the 2-foot, pen-and-ink drawing to her older brother.

“To give it away, it’s like yourbaby,” Joo said. “That’s why I onlygive them to friends, so I can trackthem down. It doesn’t go far.”

Joo said after buying paint,brushes and canvas materials, gift-ing a painting can add up to moremoney than a store-bought presentmight cost. Other students also saidsaving money wasn’t a big factor inchoosing to make gifts by hand.

“It’s just more meaningful andoriginal and endearing to get some-thing crafty and homemade,” saidsophomore studio art major MollySeligman, who started making cardswhen she offered to give a friend anillustration. She’s since sold some ofthe drawings and given others away.

“I’d rather have some weird home-made card, like an octopus or some-thing just totally bizarre, versus some-one just getting a card that’s like,‘Happy Hanukkah!’” Seligman said.

Freshman history major JacobPortman said he appreciates thephoto montage, knit kippah andother homemade gifts he’s receivedover the years. “It’s much more

thoughtful. Anyone can buy some-thing from a store.”

Portman added, however, thatsomething crafty may also seem likea last-ditch effort to some students.

“I don’t see it that way,” Portmansaid. “But you can pick out the mostthoughtful thing you can buy andthat could be leagues above some-thing you make.”

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4 THE DIAMONDBACK | HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010

MORE ONLINEwww.diamondbackonline.com

CAN’T GET ENOUGH?For more ideas on what to buy for friends and families —

from charitable gifts to tried and true ideas — and how to getat job to finance the giving this season demands, read moreholiday stories on The Diamondback’s website.

A personal touchSome students create homemade gifts for the holidays

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Andra Naing crochets holiday gifts.CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

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