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October 2023

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Campus Life

The college has updated its logo with a simpler design.

A campus network offers safe spaces for LGBTQ students.

Enrollment is up in a business class about the cannibas industry.

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New college religious procedure irks profs Izzy Chase Associate Editor

More than 100 faculty members have said they object to parts of the college’s interim religious accommodations procedure, which was proposed in August.

One faculty member

called the procedure “cruel,” and “unjust,” while others said they are “angry” that the college might allow students to opt out of coursework or demand a substitute assignment because they find the content objectionable.

“If you’re asking an instructor to create a different

assignment, that now is a problem,” psychology professor Rachel Tannenbaum said. “Your religion should not prevent you from learning something. You don’t have to agree with it and you don’t have to like it.”

Continued on Page 3

Faculty decide on AI rules class-by-class Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief Connor Graham Reporter

The college allows individual professors and academic departments to decide whether their students may use artificial intelligence to help generate their assignments.

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AACC updated its academic integrity policy over the summer without including guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in student work.

Instead of creating a

Plagiarism processes change for fall term Izzy Chase Associate Editor Connor Graham Reporter

AACC has updated the college’s procedure for handling academic integrity violations and no longer allows professors to decide how to penalize students.

The updated Resolving Academic Misconduct Allegations Procedure requires professors to report cheat-

ing to an administrative board rather than to assign a 0 or other penalty for a plagiarized assignment.

“The goal of the new procedure was to give students a bit more agency in the process,” Associate Vice President for Learning Tina Smith said.

A report of an academic integrity violation goes directly to an Academic Integrity Review Committee, which holds a hearing to

English professor Suzanne Spoor is one of many faculty members objecting to the college’s interim religious accommodations procedure.

Photo by Tope Ayokunle

evaluate the claim. The committee’s members are students and professors.

A member of the committee will notify the student “what they’ve been accused of, what the process is, what the next steps are and what his rights are,” Smith said.

First-year student Jayro Ramirez said the committee should include “professors from the same topic if that makes sense. Like, if

campus-wide policy, the college has left it up to the professors and academic departments to decide on the rules.

“It’s going to be individualized for the faculty member to decide how they use [artificial intelligence] in their curriculum,” Associate Vice President for Learning Tina Smith said.

As a result, different departments and professors have conflicting policies about whether students may turn in assignments written

by ChatGPT or any other AI content generator.

Wayne Kobylinski, academic chair for the English Department, said he doubts

Continued on Page 3

A new process requires professors who suspect students of cheating to send them to a college committee to answer for it rather than imposing penalties themselves. Shown, students pretend to cheat during a communications class.

Photo by Megan Cunningham you turn in science material, then, like, a bunch of science professors.”

Tadashi Sakai, also a first-year student, agreed

that an administrative board, and not professors, should be in charge of making decisions because “teachers can be biased at times.”

2 | Campus Current | 2023 | October

Opinion

Meet the Staff Editor-in-Chief Tomi Brunton Associate Editor Izzy Chase Photo Editor Megan Cunningham Sports Editor Andrea Bridgett Graphic Designer Jennifer Chisari Social Media Andrea Bridgett Faith McKisson Senior Reporter Payton Thompson Reporters Zack Buckingham Connor Graham Dulcie Metro Ro Neary Kylie Wehner Photographers Chris Ahn Tope Ayokunle Zoe Brunton Web Master Kaylah Rashid Contributor Zack Buster Faculty Adviser Sharon O'Malley

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Why doubt students’ faith?

Editorial Board

Faith plays an important part in the lives of many people. But few things are more controversial than religion.

This controversy has reached AACC’s campus.

AACC has adopted an interim religious accommodations procedure. In part, the procedure requires a faculty or staff member to decide whether a student’s religious beliefs are sincere. If the decision is yes, the student gets a religious accommodation. If not, no accommodation.

Really?

Faith means believing in something you don’t necessarily have proof of. It’s something that comes from within.

It is difficult—no, it is impossible—to determine the authenticity of someone’s faith, even if the student has strong convictions, and especially when what the person believes has no definitive answer.

Faith can neither be

The college’s new interim procedure for determining whether a student may have a religious accommodation asks faculty and staff to determine how sincere the student’s faith is. A sincere suggestion: Don’t do that.

Adobe Stock image proved nor disproved.

Requiring students who ask to be excused from class for a religious holiday to demonstrate their faith is intrusive and offensive. Would you be willing to allow someone to decide for you if your faith is authentic?

We’re often taught that the three things not to discuss

Letter from a leader

at the dinner table are religion, politics and money. This procedure takes that to an extreme. We’re not just talking about religion. We’re challenging whether students are religious “enough” to deserve an accommodation.

Whether people actually hold the beliefs that they claim they do is completely

up to those individuals. It’s not up to college officials.

It’s unfair to preach anti-bias and then show bias by questioning someone’s religious beliefs. That is humiliating. That is personal.

That should be handled with more care than the interim procedure seems to allow for.

Engage yourself in local gov.

Zack Buster Contributor

Knowledge is power.

And when people have the knowledge of how their government works, they have the power to become better citizens.

When the people are empowered, they can make positive change in their communities through their local governments.

This is why civic engagement and education are important. Civic knowledge is the key to the power of change—the power to change the world.

Civic engagement ensures our government is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

However, many Americans are not civically engaged—college students in particular.

Before the 2020 election, a little over half of voting-age students actually cast ballots, according to a report from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education.

In fact, most Americans don’t even have a basic understanding of their own government or how it works.

In 2016, a survey from the University of Pennsylvania found that only 26% of people can name the three branches of government— executive, legislative and judicial.

This lack of civic engagement and understanding means people aren’t involved in decisions that directly affect their lives.

That’s why I’m a member of the Maryland Civic Education Coalition—because I believe getting civic education back into our schools is the first step to making our communities stronger and better for everyone.

I also take part in activism and advocacy because I believe that sometimes, people need more than their local leaders can give them.

That said, just because I’m doing my part doesn’t mean you don’t have to do yours.

Until we have an effective civic education program in our schools, it’s up to you to educate yourself. Anyone can complain about the world around them—why not learn how to fix it?

It’s not as hard as it sounds. Sometimes, all it

Student Government Association President Zack Buster, a third-year communications student, speaks during a candidates’ debate last fall.

Photo by Zoe Brunton takes is 30 minutes a week of googling any questions you have about your community and your government.

What issues do you think are most important? Get involved and fight for what matters to you.

So, when are you going

to get up and go to your local community association meeting?

When are you going to stop complaining to your friends and start complaining to your representatives?

When and how are you going to get engaged?

Campus Current | 2023 | October | 3

News

Rules limit academic freedom, faculty say Continued from Page 1

One line of the interim procedure provides for “alternate course assignments, course substitutions or course waivers.” Many faculty members said that provision could violate their academic freedom and First Amendment rights.

The faculty has proposed new language for the administration to consider.

“So faculty in general have absolutely no problem with people asking for extensions on work because of religious holidays,” English professor Suzanne Spoor said. “But to ask for a change in the curriculum, that’s the

part that we do not want to be included.”

The procedure accompanies the college’s Religious Accommodations Policy, which the school updated this summer to comply with Maryland law.

The campus Office of General Counsel, which drafted the policy, declined Campus Current’s request for an interview.

“I’ve personally been in touch with maybe a dozen people who are incensed, they’re very angry because the law doesn’t require the accommodations to go that far,” Spoor said.

In addition, Professor Forrest Caskey, who chairs

the Academic Literacies Department, said the procedure is discriminatory because of its potential to target and censor LGBTQ content in classrooms.

Campus Current in September quoted a Catholic nursing student who said she received a waiver for a quiz containing scenarios about transgender people.

“One of my biggest arguments against this policy is LGBT faculty members who are teaching these classes,” Caskey said. “I’m one of them. We’re going to be asked to ... change a portion of our course, whether it be an assignment or a test question ... to eliminate ourselves

the whole faculty will ever agree on a consistent policy.

“It’s difficult to imagine that we can get everybody or even, like, a solid plurality to agree on one policy that applies everywhere,” Kobylinski said. “It’s really, really, really difficult to do.”

His department requires students to cite the AI generator as a source when using it for an assignment.

“We agreed that our department-wide policy is that something like ChatGPT ... is an external source,” Ko-

ChatGPT use unfair, students say in poll Izzy Chase Associate Editor Connor Graham Reporter

AACC students said last month the use of artificial intelligence should not be allowed for schoolwork.

In an informal poll of 50 students, 37 said ChatGPT and other AI content generators have no place in academia.

Gregory Underwood, a first-year nursing student, said he doesn’t use AI be-

cause it would prevent him from learning.

“That’s not how I learned and I would prefer to do the work myself,” Underwood said.

Artificial intelligence tools have become popular with some college students because the apps can research and write papers for them. The tools allow students to skip the work when an assignment calls on them to do math, write essays and understand science concepts.

Professors across cam-

from the content because of someone’s belief. To me, that there’s discrimination.”

Others said the procedure, if adopted by the college’s Board of Trustees, could undermine faculty’s ability to create curricula that they deem appropriate.

Kathleen Krueger, chair of the Anthropology, Geography

and Sociology Department, said the procedure could negatively affect students.

“Everything we do is designed to help our students learn the material that is essential for [the] class,” Krueger said. “Students will miss out on the currently accepted information in our fields.”

bylinski said, “and therefore, any words or ideas that come from that source have to be documented because that’s the way the documentation works.”

Garrett Brown, an English and creative writing professor, said students who use AI to write their essays are “robbing” themselves.

“You’re buying a Big Mac and handing it to a computer to eat for you,” Brown said.

“If you’re a student who is paying money to be in an English class, [you’re there] to learn how to write.”

Drew Snyder, a visual

arts and game design professor, said students should learn how to use AI. “Image-generated AI is something that’s not going away,” Snyder said. “I personally believe that you need to learn what the technology is [and] understand how it impacts what you’re doing.”

Smith said she hopes professors will use AI in their classes in “innovative ways.”

“It’s difficult for students because they’re trying to figure out, you know, ‘How can I use it?’ ‘Can I use it?’” Smith said.

Some professors OK AI use with citations Continued from Page 1

Some professors, like English Department Academic Chair Wayne Kobylinski, allow students to use generative AI for their assignments as long as they cite it as a source.

Photo by Megan Cunningham

A procedure that allows students to opt out of assignments they deem contrary to their faith intrudes on the professor’s right to academic freedom in the classroom, some AACC professors say.

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pus have different rules regarding the use of these tools in their classrooms.

Some consider it acceptable if the student cites the tool in a bibliography. To others, relying on ChatGPT to write any part of an assignment is outright plagiarism.

Jessica Kuhman, a second-year science major, said artificial intelligence is better to use on home projects.

“But obviously, if you’re, like, directly plagiarizing,” then that’s not acceptable,” Kuhman said.

In a 50-student Campus Current poll, 74% said using ChatGPT for college assignments is plagiarism.

Adobe Stock image Noor Chaudhry, a second-year pre-med student, said AI should be allowed in the classrooms, and that professors should encourage its use.

“I’ve had some professors who actually encour-

aged me to use it for” answers to some questions, Chaudhry said.

The college does not have an official policy that sets a standard for the use of generative AI for class assignments.

4 | Campus Current | 2023 | October

News

College designs new logo, replacing bird Payton Thompson Senior Reporter

The college redesigned its logo over the summer, eliminating the graphic of the bird.

The old logo contained the words “Anne Arundel Community College” and an illustration of a seagull. The revised version simply says, “AACC.” “I think it’s clear and easily recognizable,” Dan Baum,

executive director of strategic communications, said. “It allows the college community to further embrace the Riverhawk as the mascot of the college because there’s no [longer a] competing image there.”

A designer with Strategic Communications conducted focus groups with students, faculty and staff to ask for input about the style of the new logo. The input led to a simpler look.

“We’re excited that this helps us focus on what is easily recognizable to people; a big bold ‘AACC,’” Baum said.

Gannon Anderson, a high school student who takes classes at AACC, said the new logo is “straightforward, simple and shows that it’s AACC.” Baum said removing the bird would clear up any confusion between the seagull on the logo and the college’s Riverhawk mascot.

“An overwhelming ma-

The 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid will be available in December instead of October this year.

The FAFSA Simplification Act, which Congress passed in December 2020, will significantly change the FAFSA to make the form easier to fill out, according to Tara Carew, AACC’s director of financial aid. Carew said the changes took longer than the government expected, which caused the delay.

“This is … the biggest change that we’ve had to the FAFSA since they moved it to electronic format,” Carew

Police: Crime still low on campus last year Zack Buckingham Reporter Dulcie Metro Reporter

Incidents of stalking and petty theft increased on the Arnold campus between 2021 and 2022, while most other crime was nonexistent, according to a September report.

“I’d like to say it’s because we have heavy visibility here with police presence,” campus Police Chief Sean Kapfhammer said. “Arnold’s a pretty safe area.”

He added that because the college does not have

dorms, it typically does not have major crime.

Six female victims reported the same stalker in 2022, which Kapfhammer called “an anomaly.” The chief said campus authorities did not arrest the suspect but he is no longer a student because of the incidents.

Two other students reported separate stalking incidents.

Police took seven larceny reports for items like cell phones and laptops in 2022, compared with four incidents in 2021. In addition, police responded to six

jority thought just simplifying, streamlining and not having two birds,” Baum said. “If we’re going to have a bird, let’s make it the Riverhawk.”

Camryn Dean, a second-year transfer studies

student, said she will miss the bird on the school logo.

“It’s kind of sad that we don’t have our mascot in it,” Dean said. “We’re not known as, like, the Riverhawks, I feel like, without it, but we’re still Riverhawks so there we go.”

said. “Due to the sheer number of changes, they’ve needed more time to get the FAFSA ready for launch.”

The application in the past has been available in October.

The updated FAFSA will have 36 questions instead of 108. The updates will increase the number of languages the FAFSA is available in from two to 11.

“If we are moving it from two languages to 11 languages, we’re going to reach more students,” Carew said. “So we’re very excited about it.”

Despite the delayed opening, FAFSA will not push back the June 30 application deadline.

“If it releases in Decem-

ber and students are still completing it in December or January or February, they’re still going to be completely fine,” Carew said. “There’s maybe a little bit [of a] heightened sense of urgency to get it done, but there’s still ample time.”

Carew said students should fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible because some state deadlines—including Maryland’s—are earlier than federal due dates.

“A lot of those Maryland state scholarships and grants do have a March 1 deadline,” said Carew, who noted that students must fill out the FAFSA to apply for some state funding.

Gov’t delays release of federal aid forms Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid will be available in December this year instead of in October.

Adobe Stock image

AACC’s new logo displays the college’s initials without the seagull or the school’s full name.

Image courtesy of AACC Strategic Communications

disorderly conduct reports, which Kapfhammer described as “a student acting up in class.”

Disorderly conduct incidents increased from one report in 2021.

The Glen Burnie Town Center campus reported no crime in 2022, and the Arundel Mills campus recorded two disorderly conduct offenses.

“Well, you’re seeing the numbers were really low because of COVID,” Kapfhammer said. “You’re going to see an uptick now that … this is the most students we’ve seen here in a while.”

Crime on campus barely increased between 2021 and 2022, according an to annual safety report. Shown, campus Police Chief Sean Kapfhammer.

Photo by Megan Cunningham Federal law requires colleges to release an annual security report.

“It’s important that we do that to let everybody know what kind of problem there is on campus,” Kapfhammer said. “It would also be a determining factor for parents to see if it’s a safe

environment for their kids.”

Students said they feel safe on campus.

“I feel really safe, if anything,” Marie Butiu, a second-year communications student, said. “If you see the numbers based on the reports, [campus police] are still doing their jobs.”

Campus Current | 2023 | October | 5

News

MyAACC prompts ask users for backup ID Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

AACC got a new login system last month that prompts students to set up a method of identity verification, like a phone number or email address, when they sign on to MyAACC or Outlook.

When students see the prompt, they can either download the Microsoft Authenticator app or submit an email or phone number. They can choose to skip the verification, but the setup request reappears every time they log in until they complete it.

Once students set up the

verification, they will only need to use it when changing their passwords.

“This is just growing technology,” John Williams, the college’s director of information security, said.

“It’s just part of the lifestyle growth of information technology. There’s always changes and all these improvements, and hopefully all those improvements are more secure.”

Williams said the college is now using Microsoft Office to manage passwords, which caused the change.

“You might see some variations in the [sign-in

pages of the] different services that you log into, like MyAACC,” Williams said.

“We’re just letting people know that they may see some differences, but it’s the same information.”

First-year psychology student Taylor Gilroy said she is worried the changes will make navigating AACC’s website more challenging.

“Since I’m, like, brand new to the school, I’m already having trouble navigating and finding where things are,” Gilroy said. “But maybe it’ll be better. Maybe it’ll be worse. I don’t know.”

Second-year creative

AACC’s Department of Public Safety and Police will begin campus-wide active shooter drills on Oct. 2.

Public safety will play a message over the alarm system, prompting students and faculty to undergo emergency protocols.

“All we want people to do is to lock down safely either in their classrooms or an office or some other room where if someone were to come into the building, they would not be easily seen,” Arlene Crow, AACC’s emergency manager, said. “All people are going to do is lock their doors, turn off lights,

HS students perform better in classes here Payton Thompson Senior Reporter

High school students who took classes at AACC performed academically better than regular college students last spring.

According to AACC’s Office of Planning, Research and Institutional Assessment, or PRIA, 80.5% of dual-enrolled students’ grades were successful, compared with 76% of regular college

students’ grades.

“I feel like it makes sense because in high school there’s a lot more people pushing you to do better,” Lydia Guercio, a second-year nutrition student, said. “And then when you get to college, it’s kind of like everything’s on you.”

Dual enrollment at AACC has been on the rise since the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future passed in May. That law allows Anne Arundel County Public High School students

writing student Zoё Sharp agreed.

“I wish that they did these things before the school year starts because I start to get into a rhythm and then they change something

and that’s a little confusing,” Sharp said. “But I’m interested to see.”

Williams said students eventually could have the option of using a backup ID every time they log in.

shut down their cell phones. … And then they’re going to hide in a location in the room where you cannot be seen through the glass in the door, … so if somebody’s looking through that they can’t see you. … That’s all we’re having people do.”

Public safety will shut down one building at a time, and send teams of evaluators to make sure everyone is locked down correctly.

“When they have completely cleared the building … then there will be another announcement that comes through that says, ‘The drill has ended, you may now resume normal activities,’” Crow said.

In most buildings, the

drill will last for less than 20 minutes, but larger ones may require more time, Crow said.

Kara Mestanas, a second-year pre-med student, said students don’t need lockdown drills.

“I feel like since we’re adults here, we can probably figure out how to evacuate on our own,” Mestanas said.

“I don’t want to waste my class time doing it.”

Second-year kinesiology student Nick Chargualaf disagreed.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Chargualaf said. “A lot of people may not be aware of what to do.”

Crow said this is the first of ongoing lockdown drills.

Police set ‘lockdown’ drills for all buildings Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

Campus police will conduct safety drills in October and will ask occupants of classrooms and offices to lock their doors and turn off the lights while they make their rounds.

Campus Current archive

Students who log into MyAACC or Outlook are getting prompts asking them to set up a backup ID, like a phone number, every time. Once they do, the prompt goes away except when resetting passwords.

Adobe Stock image

to take college classes tuition-free.

Associate Vice President for Learning Tina Smith said dual-enrolled students have a bigger support system when taking college classes.

“Dual-enrolled [students have] support from AACC … [and] their high school, and within their high schools are … advisers and counselors,” Smith said. “And so that does give high school students … additional resources.”

Students who are dual-enrolled in high school and AACC classes outperformed regular college students last spring. Shown, dual-enrolled students Ro Neary and Jenna Young.

Photo by Izzy Chase Maura Gardner, a senior at Broadneck High School, agreed.

“Our parents are most of the time, like, on your case about your grades,” Gardner, who takes classes at AACC, said. “And a lot of the time

the kids that are [dual-enrolled] most likely care, like, a good amount about their grades, so they’re going to try even harder for college.”

Sara Eger, who oversees programs for dual-enrolled students at AACC, agreed.

6 | Campus Current | 2023 | October

Campus Life

Rainbows are for safe space Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

Several dozen professors display rainbow stickers on their doors to indicate their offices are safe spaces for LGBTQ students.

The professors have attended sensitivity training to become members of the AACC Rainbow Network, or ARN. “Students see the [stickers], and they know that they have a safe space,” Forrest Caskey, an academic literacies and LGBTQ studies professor, said. “They know that they have someone they can talk to.”

ARN formed in 2012 with the purpose of creating a visible support network for LGBTQ students and has grown to include training and events, according to co-founder Suzanne Spoor.

Spoor, an English professor, said the training includes “pretty basic vocabulary” as

well as “a couple of exercises to try to expand their mind about what it might mean to experience microaggressions” and “some resources that they can offer.”

Spoor added, “At first we just set up one training, and then we were like, ‘Oh, what should we do to keep people getting educated?’ because, you know, information is always changing and we need to keep people abreast. So then we started [two more, so] we have three now.”

Johnny Lew, an English professor who helps coordinate ARN, said it’s important for students to know that “there is this support community on campus.”

“There are faculty members and staff members who want to show their support and want to be supportive and are making efforts to learn how to do that,” Lew said.

Caskey said members of the network also are trained

Basic Needs Coordinator Caitlyn Silver is among dozens of staff and faculty who are members of the Rainbow Network and display a rainbow on their office doors to let LGBTQ students know those are safe spaces for them.

Photo by Megan Cunningham to connect students with resources.

“If you’re feeling sad, if you're feeling depressed, or any sort of feelings like [that], you have a place to go to and that person might

Fun and Games

Did you know?

Prayer rooms, called “serenity spaces,” are located in: Arnold: MATH 100 Arundel Mills: AMIL 204 Glen Burnie: GBTC 511

Adobe Stock image

not be able to solve it but they can connect you to a resource to get help,” Caskey said.

First-year computer science student Cass Hay said it is “nice to know” about ARN.

“It … definitely helps create a more welcoming atmosphere because sometimes, depending on the place, it’s hard to really come by a lot of [LGBTQ]-friendly spaces,” Hay said.

Campus Current | 2023 | October | 7

Campus Life

Profs teach class at county high schools Payton Thompson Senior Reporter

More than a dozen AACC professors teach for-credit college courses to high school juniors and seniors at their high schools.

The college offers 40 free courses in business management, entrepreneurial studies, homeland security and criminal justice, environmental science, law enforcement and other subjects at Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

“For some students who aren’t yet comfortable or confident … it allows them to kind of put one foot in the water and take the course, but they don’t have to leave the comfort of their own high school,” Sara Eger, who oversees AACC’s programs with AACPS, said.

AACC and AACPS created “pathways” in 2013 for all AACPS high schools except one. For example, Arundel

High School offers a small business management pathway, while Glen Burnie High School offers a law enforcement and criminal justice pathway.

Matt Bem, AACC’s coordinator of STEM and supplemental instruction, said offering college classes at high schools makes them more accessible to students, “especially for high schools that might be located further in the county away from AACC. It can be a real challenge sometimes for students to have to transport onto campus.”

Bem teaches a biology class in the environmental science pathway at Broadneck High School.

Eger said professors teaching at the high schools have to work around the students’ schedules. For example, high school athletes might be allowed to leave class early to attend sports practices.

“So in general, we try to make the courses exactly the same,” Eger said. “But you’ve got bell schedules … early dismissals … emergency closures. There are more disruptions in high school … than college, and the instructors do have to adjust to that.”

Instructional specialist Tim Tumelty, who teaches a class about drones at Broadneck High School, said professors still hold their students to college standards.

“Getting the students that are sitting in a high school class[room] to understand that they’re taking a college class and the rules are different and the expectations are higher [is difficult], but it’s very rewarding,” Tumelty said.

Evan Welsh, a Broadneck High School senior who took three AACC classes, said he had to adjust to the college level in and out of the classroom.

Public high school students who enroll in college classes can take them from AACC professors who travel to their schools to teach. Shown, adjunct professor Adam Stein teaching Psychology 111 at North County High School.

Photo by Megan Cunningham “It was more fast-paced,” Welsh said. “If you feel left behind, you are left behind and told to catch up on your own accord, pretty much, unless you ask for help.”

Riley Mumaw, a Broadneck High School senior who took AACC classes, agreed.

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Fun and Games

Looking for answers?

“I liked how the difficulty increased and having to put in more work at home versus just getting time in class,” Mumaw said.

Most of the juniors who take college courses at their high schools enroll in classes on AACC’s campus in their senior year.

8 | Campus Current | 2023 | October

Campus life

Legal marijuana ups related class’s roster Kylie Wehner Reporter

The legalization of recreational cannabis over the summer led to increased interest in the AACC business course titled Entrepreneurial and Career Opportunities in the Cannabis Industry.

Fall enrollment in BPA 195 increased to 15 students from an average of 10 in prior semesters, professor Shad Ewart said.

At the same time, the college eliminated the course’s prerequisite and converted it from a 200 level to a 100 level, giving “students more freedom to take the course,” Ewart said.

“The students that take

the class seem to want a job in the industry or [to] start a business in the industry,” Ewart said.

The online class educates students about the cannabis industry.

Ewart said the course encourages students to explore nonprofit, dispensary and plant science jobs.

For example, Ewart said, AACC alumni and military veteran Eryck Stamper “has used cannabis as a way to help vets.” Stamper is the founder of the nonprofit Veterans Initiative 22, which promotes suicide prevention awareness and advocates for rights and access to affordable cannabis.

According to the Mary-

land Department of Legislative Services, the amount of marijuana farmland rose from 915,000 square feet to 1.7 million square feet since 2018. Increased farm area led to increased job demand.

Ewart said the cannabis business course prepares students for future jobs in that industry.

“Jobs are expanding,” Ewart said, putting students who take the course “in a great position” because they will be able to show potential employers that they took a three-credit class to prepare them to work in the industry.

“I help people get jobs … realize their dreams,” Ewart said. “[The industry] need[s]

AACC’s campus at Glen Burnie Town Center will stay open during renovations through the fall.

Classes will continue

Students participate on Inclusion Council Ro Neary Reporter

Approximately 70 students, faculty and staff have formed a council to advocate for more inclusive policies at the college.

The council, which had its first meeting in August, is a revival of a diversity committee created by the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Leadership (IDEAL). The committee went defunct during the pandemic.

“It’s just a network of people on campus to plan events, do initiatives, do outreach education programs, and just kind of keep that [as] a part of life,” Forrest Caskey, the chair of academic literacies and the new committee’s founder, said.

Caskey, who was the di-

versity, equity and inclusion coordinator for the past school year, said he “got to meet everyone that works on campus and figure out what their interests are, what they’re doing. So [the committee] gives people, like … a place to go to help support a lot of the initiatives that we’re doing on campus.”

Caskey said the committee might work on projects like creating an Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and organizing the college’s annual Coming Out Week. He also said he hopes to create a “human library,” which is an opportunity for students to meet with peers from the LGBTQ community and other diverse groups.

“Let’s say there’s somebody who’s just never talk-

entrepreneurs; I help build entrepreneurs.”

Some of Ewart’s former students started their own companies after taking the course.

For example, Laura Toskov, who took the class in 2015, opened Green Point Dispensary in Linthicum Heights in 2018 and has since expanded into Laurel

and Millersville with additional shops.

JT Schiavone, a second-year transfer studies student, said having a credit course in the field “is important. It gives students a chance to learn how to profit in this industry.”

“Almost 50 of my students have been employed in the industry,” Ewart said.

while the first-floor staircase is removed and the second-floor testing center and third-floor tutoring center are expanded.

The county, which owns the college building, renamed it in August for Sarah E. Car-

ter, the first African-American woman on the Anne Arundel County Council.

Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore said the space will be “more welcoming and vibrant.”

Glen Burnie building changes look, name Payton Thompson Senior Reporter

The building that houses the college’s Glen Burnie Town Center campus has a new name and is undergoing renovations.

Photo by Tomi Brunton

Enrollment in professor Shad Ewart’s Entrepreneurial and Career Opportunities in the Cannabis Industry class has grown by one-third since Maryland legalized recreational cannabis and the college waived the prerequisite course.

Photo by Megan Cunningham

ed to a gay person before,” Caskey said. “I could just say, ‘Hey, here’s me.’”

Caskey added that past committees were usually comprised mostly of faculty, but this one includes students.

Student leaders who are on the committee agreed the campus needs an organization like this.

“Community colleges are super diverse, like, in every way, shape and form with religion, age, race, all of everything,” Zack Buster, the Student Government Association president and a member of the Inclusion Council, said. “So when you have a student body that’s as diverse as ours, you need a community of people that are coming at this. … You need to have decision-making processes that incorpo-

Rabiyatou Bah is a member of a new campus-wide diversity committee. The new Inclusion Council is made up of faculty, staff and student members.

Photo by Zoe Brunton rate that coming together from all different directions because then, you’re making decisions that encapsulate the whole community.”

Buster added: “And so that’s why meetings like these are super important.”

Rabiyatou Bah, the Student Government Associa-

tion’s executive vice president, agreed.

“I think it’s really important,” Bah, a second-year engineering student and a member of the council, said.

“I’m glad that now there’s something definitive in place where people are actively choosing to be inclusive.”

Campus Current | 2023 | October | 9

Campus Life

Repairs keep bridge closed Payton Thompson Senior Reporter AACC over the summer closed the 30-year-old footbridge that connects the west and east sides of the Arnold campus for repairs.

The bridge will remain closed all semester.

During routine maintenance, workers found deterioration in the bridge’s support system. The bridge will remain closed until the structure of the walkway is rebuilt.

“I think it’s a bit of an inconvenience for students who have classes on West Campus and East Campus, like, in times close together in their schedule,” Matilda Marinello, a first-year undecided student, said. “But it’s very nice that AACC has provided shuttle buses.”

AACC offers two free shuttle buses to transport students, faculty and staff between the east and west

campuses. Students can also walk the detour route that runs alongside West Campus Drive.

Vice President for Learning Resources Management Melissa Beardmore said she chose the company CharterUP’s shuttle buses because of their accessibility. The buses the college owns do not have wheelchair lifts, she said.

“In the back [of the buses] there’s a wheelchair lift to make them accessible,” Beardmore said of the contracted buses.

The buses will run Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and will stop at the entrance to the footbridge, the math building, the Careers Center, and between the Cade Center for Fine Arts and Florestano.

Connor Graham, a firstyear computer science student, said he did not have a good experience using the bus when trying to get to class.

The bridge between East Campus and West Campus will remain closed throughout the semester. Shuttle buses will run between the campuses Monday through Saturday.

Photo by Chris Ahn “I had a class and I was waiting for [a shuttle bus] ... for about probably close to five or eight minutes and it never showed up, so I just figured I’d walk,” Graham said. He added, “I think it

would make more sense if they had set schedules … just so that they could be more consistent.”

Deneen Dangerfield, the dean of student development, said riders can expect a 10- to

15-minute wait for the bus.

“I think for students or faculty who may need transportation to either side of campus ... I think the buses will be very reliable,” Dangerfield said.

TUESDAY, OCT. 24 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on the Quad, Arnold

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Information: Professor April Copes, Ph.D., aecopes@aacc.edu Sponsored by the Communications Department.

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Come out and hear students share their ideas about CIVIL DISCOURSE through spoken word, music, speeches, skits, conflict resolution strategies, social justice poster-making and more. You can even register to vote!

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10 | Campus Current | 2023 | October

Entertainment

Students lead original plays Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

Theatre AACC will produce four plays entirely written, directed and acted by students this fall.

Theatre AACC will recruit students this semester to act as the directors and stage managers for its Black Box Series of plays, which will show on Feb. 23 and 24 in Cade 107.

Any students can submit an original script, lasting 10 to 15 minutes, to the program’s advisers, who will pick the four plays. The deadline to submit scripts is Dec. 22.

“This is really, you know, AACC theater students’ opportunity for the shows to be entirely their own,” Sean Urbantke, one of the program’s advisers, said.

The program gets its name from black box theater, which is usually performed in small venues with black-painted walls. Black

box shows typically use fewer props and simpler sets than traditional plays.

Urbantke, a theater professor, said the advisers picked the name “black box” for the program because “it implies experimentation; it implies taking a risk. It implies, like, fringe-style theater or working on a shoelace budget.”

Urbantke added, “You get to make those decisions about, ‘What do you need to tell a story?’ What kind of elements are absolutely necessary?”

Madeline Austin, one of the program’s advisers, said she hopes the shows will shine “a light on all this talent that’s in Anne Arundel” Community College.

“We’re just trying to support and give budding theater artists … room to experiment and take risks in a safe space,” Austin, a theater professor, said.

The student directors

AACC’s black box shows—which students write, direct and act in—will begin production this semester. Shown, the cast of AACC’s “Twelve Angry Jurors” rehearses for an upcoming production of the play.

Photo by Izzy Chase will hold auditions for actors for the four plays at the start of the spring term.

Urbantke said the program would “become a yearly thing.”

“We’ll go year by year,” Urbantke said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Fourth-year transfer studies student Nathan Garcia, who will play Juror No. 3

in Theatre AACC’s mainstage production, “Twelve Angry Jurors” in November, said he wants to be a part of the black box program.

Austin said every student can benefit from participating in the Black Box Series, not just theater majors.

It “helps in so many ways,” Austin said. “Being able to work as an ensemble,

work under pressure, work as a team, learn about how to articulate, [or how] to get up and perform something in front of a live audience. …

Those are all skills you need anyway, for any job.”

Urbantke said any students interested in participating in the black box shows should contact him or Austin.

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Campus Current | 2023 | October | 11

Entertainment

Students prep for fall shows Tomi Brunton Editor-in-Chief

Three student performance troupes will put on shows this semester.

Theatre AACC will show the play “Twelve Angry Jurors”; Opera AACC will put on a concert called “Home for the Holidays: a Christmas Show”; and the AACC Dance Company will perform its winter production.

“I’m so happy with the actors,” Madeline Austin, the director of “Twelve Angry Jurors,” said. “The play is … so timely, it’s so beautifully written, so exciting, and driving. It’s dangerous. ... I’m excited to do this.”

“Twelve Angry Jurors” is a play adapted from American screenwriter Reginald Rose’s “Twelve Angry Men.” The play, set in the 1960s, revolves around 12 jurors deciding a murder case and their “preconceived notions” and “prejudice,” ac-

cording to Austin.

“Twelve Angry Jurors” will show on Nov. 3, 4, 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 5 and 12 at 2 p.m. in the Kauffman Theater.

Jackson Bondurant, who plays Juror 8, the protagonist of “Twelve Angry Jurors,” said “even though [the play is] happening 60, almost 70 years ago, it still kind of parallels what’s happening today.”

Bondurant, who graduated in the spring, added: “I don’t really know a whole lot about the ’60s. I do know, like, a lot of the events that they mentioned around that time, it’s in a way kind of similar to what’s going on now.”

Doug Byerly, the artistic director of “Home for the Holidays,” said Opera AACC’s performance is “going to be a fantastic show.”

“We have some familiar [songs] and similar things that were re-created,” Byerly said. “We’re doing … works

Opera AACC will perform a December concert called “Home for the Holidays: a Christmas Show” for the second year in a row. Shown, the 2022 performance.

Photo courtesy of Kathi Hiett including Bach, Handel … as well as some new contemporary pieces.”

“Home for the Holidays” will show on Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. in the Chesapeake Arts Center.

Will Kuethe, an eighthyear music student and member of the Opera AACC chorus, said the performance of “Home for the Holidays” is going to be “nice.”

“It’s pretty cool,” Kuethe said. “I like the music and I

like singing with everybody.”

Kuethe said this is Opera AACC’s second holiday concert.

“We’re trying to make it an annual thing,” Kuethe said.

The third production is AACC Dance Company’s annual winter concert.

Margaret Russell, the company’s director, said she is “excited to work with [the] dancers.”

“I’ll be really excited

to see them and work with them with different styles, kind of, coach them with different styles,” Russell said. “Also just to get to know the dancers a little more. Being their instructor in technique classes and a professor in dance history class, you don’t get to bond with the dancers as much as [you can] being the director of the dance company, so I’m really looking forward [to it].”

TUESDAY, NOV. 7 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

SUN Hawk’s Nest Room 101 and Careers Center vending area

SHOP LOCAL. SHOP ONLINE.

A STUDENT BUSINESS TRADE SHOW Support AACC student entrepreneurs by shopping and learning more about their businesses. Provide important feedback to students who are concept testing to start their businesses.

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12 | Campus Current | 2023 | October

Sports

National-level goalie comes to play soccer Andrea Bridgett Sports Editor

Men’s soccer goalie Jayeim Blake relocated to the U.S. to play for the Riverhawks.

Photo courtesy of AACC Athletics

A goalie on the Riverhawks men’s soccer team played for the Trinidad and Tobago Under 17 national team before coming to AACC. Jayeim Blake, a first-year transfer studies student, moved to the United States to play college-level soccer.

Blake said his goal is to make another national team.

“In Trinidad … soccer is not really a big thing after a certain level,” Blake said. “After high school, it’s not really the best, so I transferred to further that.”

Blake said he started playing soccer at age 13 and made the Riverhawks team

Asst. coach’s 2 sons compete on his team Andrea Bridgett Sports Editor

The Riverhawks men’s soccer team is keeping it all in the family this semester.

Two brothers play on the team, and their father is an assistant coach.

Twins Ethan and Elijah Belcher have always played soccer together and their father, Drew Belcher, has coached them since they were playing in youth leagues.

“As a father, it’s a joy to watch your boys play together,” Drew Belcher said. “It’s

just fantastic. And being able to coach them is great. …

This is all we’ve ever done.”

First-year biology student Ethan, a striker, said having the family together on the field makes the game more enjoyable.

Midfielder Elijah said he came to play at AACC because his brother wanted to.

“I love my brother,” Ethan said. “We help each other.”

Elijah, a first-year computer science student, said he views all of his teammates as brothers on the field, so it is no different having his ac-

tual sibling on the field with him.

Head coach Nick Cosentino called the Belcher brothers “a coach’s dream.”

“They work hard,” Cosentino said. “They’re here when they don’t have to be. … They’re great practice players [and] quiet leaders.”

Ethan said “it’s awesome” playing for his father.

“It’s a personal connection,” he said. “It makes the team chemistry a lot better.”

Drew Belcher said as a coach, his sons are just like any other players to him.

paid, you’re not allowed to move back down [to college sports]. Because we were underage, we didn’t get paid to play professionally. It’s kind of like I played at the professional level without the label.”

Head coach Nick Cosentino said coaching Blake is like working with other players.

“Soccer is a world game,” Cosentino said. “Soccer is soccer.”

Elijah Belcher, a firstyear computer science student and men’s soccer midfielder, said it is great having someone like Blake on the team.

“He always has a smile on. Everyone’s always happy to be around him,” he said.

Twins Ethan and Elijah Belcher say they enjoy playing on the soccer field with each other.

Photo courtesy of AACC Athletics “There’s more pressure on them than me because they’re listening to their dad, which they don’t necessarily always want to, and I get that,” he said.

Ethan agreed.

“I can’t say everything I

want to say to him in, like, a son way,” he said. “I have to say it as a player to a coach.”

Goalkeeper Jayeim Blake, a first-year transfer studies student, called the brothers two “of the best players on the team.”

ball,” said Jose Luis Rodriguez, who is a midfielder on the men’s soccer team. “You got to know where you want to go with the ball before it even comes to you.”

Men’s soccer head coach Nick Cosentino said the physicality of the game changes at this level.

“You have 17-year-old, 18-year-old kids playing against 22-year-olds,” Cosentino added. “It’s a pretty big difference.”

Emily Rodriguez, who plays libero on the volleyball

team, said the competition changes in college.

“I feel like in high school [it’s] just for fun,” Rodriguez, a first-year nursing student, said. “You compete against good teams and you just want to get better for yourself.”

Volleyball head coach Tanecha Rice said the faster games and the more intense practices make a big difference for the athletes.

“I think the intensity of practices may be a little more than what they had in high school,” Rice added.

New ’Hawks athletes adapt to AACC sports Megan Cunningham Photo Editor

First-year athlete Emily Rodriguez plays her first volleyball home game as a Riverhawk against Howard Community College.

Photo by Megan Cunningham

at 17. He played for Trinidad and Tobago’s U17 national team from September 2022 until January.

Blake said players must perform at a high level to make the national team in the Caribbean country.

Blake said he tried out for the national team and was selected from more than 100 other players. The selected players then went through trials and practices before they officially made the team. “[Being on] the national team is playing for your country,” Blake said. “You [have to] be playing at a professional level.”

Still, he noted, “If you play professionally and get

First-year athletes playing for the Riverhawks this fall said they look forward to the quick pace of college games compared with high school.

AACC has 46 new athletes playing fall sports this semester. Men’s soccer has 22 new players, women’s soccer has 14 and volleyball has 10.

“Just playing quicker all around, thinking quick, thinking before you get the