The Free Press Welcomes New Students Beguiled: A Profile on Steven “Bo” Eckard -Page 2-
Kyle Parks
Photo by Kyle Parks
Editor-in-Chief & Multimedia Editor On behalf of the McDaniel Free Press, I’d like to welcome all new students to McDaniel! If you’re anything like me when I first moved in to McDaniel, then you’re currently an uneasy blend of nervousness, excitement, and exhaustion. These next years of your life will differ heavily from all those before, but you’ll also grow tremendously as a person. For me, though, it was relieving to finally have a sense of independence and engage in much more stimulating coursework. Nevertheless, I’d like to focus on your experience: I won’t say that these next few years of your life won’t be challenging, but I know from experience that they can be immensely rewarding. Something I wish I understood as a freshman is that this experience is precisely what you make it. Friends and a sense of belonging won’t come automatically—that’s why it’s very important to participate in
at least one sport, club, fraternity/ sorority, intramural, or any other type of extracurricular activity. These are invaluable sources of social support and allow members to flourish as individuals. That being said, I’d like to call upon all McDaniel students (not just those new to campus) to join the McDaniel Free Press. We welcome all students regardless of major, writing experience, and level of commitment. In fact, you don’t even need to be a writer: we are open to all forms of media, be it blogs, videos, graphics, photos, you name it! We also invite all students to help us sell advertising space (which you can earn commission on!) and assist in running the paper, all of which make great résumé builders. Through participation in certain courses (especially newspaper practicum), you can even earn academic credit by being involved with us. Any extracurricular involvement greatly enhances a college experience, which doesn’t need to be with the Free Press. Consider joining (or starting) whichever extracurriculars cater to your
Freshman Move-in Day Photos -Page 4interests and passions. Nonetheless, I know that McDaniel students share a common goal of making the most of their years here, so I encourage you all to consider the Free Press among the many extracurriculars at McDaniel. With involvement, you can gain a sense of purpose and belonging on this campus, make friends and establish many other valuable social connections, cultivate your skills, as well as pave clearer paths towards graduate school and/or various professional opportunities. We welcome all visitors and prospective members to our meetings and office hours in Hill 111. The times for both will be announced in the next week. Feel free to contact us at freepress@ mcdaniel.edu if you have any questions.
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Beguiled: A Profile on Steven “Bo” Eckard
Richard Rickman Contributor
Editor’s note: This profile was written in October 2015, with its writer deciding to share it with the Free Press after the news of Professor Bo Eckard’s passing. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of beguile is to “charm or chant (someone).” Synonyms include charm, attract, enchant, and entrance. Steven Eckard has a charm that allows him to intermingle with almost every sort of group he encounters. Whether it is a mariachi band, Ethiopians in charge of a parking garage, or the presence of Bill Gates at a Microsoft Christmas party, Eckard can feel at home in a myriad of environments. If you called him Steven, however, it is likely that he would not respond. It could be that the volume on his electric bass amp is turned up to 10 or that the batteries in his hearing aids are dying, but most likely it is because his friends, family, and coworkers know him as Bo. Bo is a Senior Lecturer of Music and Director of Jazz Studies here at McDaniel College. Born and raised in Westminster, Bo attended Loyola University in Baltimore. He returned to Westminster later in life and was the first to complete Western Maryland College’s World Music Pedagogy program. Just from entering his office you can tell how important different styles of music are to him, because the space is absolutely cluttered with different types of string instruments. “He’s kind of like a cultural chameleon,” claims his oldest daughter Anna Eckard, who is currently a senior at McDaniel College. “He always had these cultural phases.” When she was twelve, Anna’s father casually wore a Dashiki, a type of African robe, around the house and listened to African Putumayo CDs. Putumayo World Music is a company from New York known for compiling music of different cultures.
Photo courtesy of McDaniel College
His ability to engage with everyone he comes across is partially responsible for how he got his job as an adjunct professor over 30 years ago. According to Dr. Linda Kirkpatrick, the Director of Instrumental Music at McDaniel, there were so many students interested in joining the jazz band on campus that a second band had to be developed. After a single afternoon of chatting with the Director of the Music Department, Bo landed his first gig here at McDaniel. However, there are other credentials that helped him secure a job as an adjunct professor besides his degree. Of course a music instructor must be book smart, but there is some knowledge that cannot be taught in a classroom. Bo would have to go out on his own in order to gain experience. After earning his degree from Loyola in 1980, Bo stayed in Baltimore to take part in the nightlife as a bassist in various bands. Apparently playing at local gigs can be quite demanding on the body. “I can think of a couple of occasions when we were up all night, until the sun came up,” said Bo. “3 o’clock [in the morning] was a usual time.” In 1986, Eckard set out to Washington D.C. in an attempt to join
the live music scene that is known for its successful musicians. He joined with four other people in the late 1980s to form Essentials, a Pop/Rock band that would go on to win “Best Local Pop/ Rock Group” in 1991 and 1992. One member of the band was a lawyer as well as a musician, which helped the band financially. With the financial help of some of their wealthier friends, Essentials released their album Beguiled in 1990. Despite being only a fifth of the band, Bo said he wrote half of the album’s lyrics and music. Songs of his include “Big World,” “Something’s Different,” and “Cause I Love You.” With an abundance of Bo’s love songs on the album, it is clear that his wife was quite an influence on his music. According to their daughter, she was one of Essential’s groupies and even convinced Bo to change the name of a song from “Nothing’s Different” to its current title “Something’s Different.” Unfortunately, according to Bo, the band used its own label instead of waiting to be signed and suffered distribution issues. For this reason, only select stores chose to sell the album and it never reached its full potential. On the bright side, Bo was able to experience the nightlife of a bassist in D.C. and continues to offer his knowledge from
these experiences to his students. Bo tells all sorts of stories to his students ranging from comical to sentimental and most have an important message. Brandon Vallejo, a Music major and one of Bo’s students, has heard many of these anecdotes and will likely hear many more before he graduates. One such story tells of when Bo was part of a wedding band and was driving with a friend the night after playing for newlyweds. The two stumbled upon a salsa club, but the bouncers refused to let them in because they were too underdressed. Luckily Bo and his friend had just been at a wedding and their tuxedos were still in the car! They changed right in the parking lot and the bouncers were so amused that they let the duo into the club without having to pay the $20 entry fee. “It really shows the craziness of the touring jazz musician or wedding band player, or whatever he was doing at the moment,” remarked Vallejo. “He’s always doing seven different things.” Bo has now been a Senior Lecturer at McDaniel for three decades and has many more responsibilities including two Jazz Ensembles, private lessons, and Bass Ensemble. He continues to write new pieces for Bass Ensemble today. He is also directing McDaniel’s brand new Pep Band, which will play at McDaniel sporting events. Its first practice was in October and the group made its debut performance of the season at Homecoming.
The Adjuncts Among Us
Charles Collyer, PhD
On June 6, ballots were counted at the National Labor Relations Board office in Baltimore, as union organizers and representatives of McDaniel College’s administration looked on. By a margin of 82 to 36, the adjunct faculty at McDaniel voted to form a union.
Negotiations will take place during the coming academic year on a first contract. What does all this mean, and what big issues are at stake? First, an adjunct faculty member is a college-level teacher who is hired by the College to teach a course – once, and maybe again, or maybe not. There are a lot of adjuncts in American higher education; at McDaniel there are more than twice as many adjuncts as full-time “regular” faculty members. McDaniel is not unusual in this respect. The percentage of instructors in our colleges and universities who are adjuncts has steadily increased over the past 60 years, and is now well over 50 percent. The large number of adjuncts enables colleges to offer a broad and varied curriculum, keep class sizes relatively low, offer courses that are responsive to changing needs, release full-time professors to work on projects, and still keep the overall costs of instruction low. However, despite their large numbers and their importance to the delivery of the curriculum, adjuncts have little or no voice in the conditions of their employment. A college may employ hundreds of adjuncts, each under an individual contract, usually with no opportunity to bargain. The power in this situation is all on the employer’s side. Because the workers are scattered and not in touch with each other, discussion of common concerns is difficult. So while student tuition (as you know) has steadily risen, adjunct pay has hardly changed in twenty years, and administrations have had little incentive to respond to adjuncts’ complaints – or to their often wise advice. Adjuncts are remarkable people. Most have master’s or doctoral degrees in the subjects they have been hired to teach. Most combine academic experience with work and life experience in business, industry, government service, the arts, education, or nonprofit management, making them a rich resource for students. Many adjuncts bridge the worlds of the campus and the community for their students, creating internships for them and pointing the way to places of employment and further training. Yet most of the colleges that employ adjuncts bar them from being advisors
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to individual students or student organizations, because they are not regular faculty members. In these and other ways, adjuncts are undervalued at many colleges. They are ignored and dismissed in campus affairs, and often made to feel that the college is a bit embarrassed to have them around. I don’t think this attitude was deliberately adopted; it just evolved – though this evolution was abetted by raw economics, because adjunct instructors are a huge bargain for colleges. Unionization of adjuncts, which is happening all over the country, seeks not only better pay and fairer working conditions, but also a reversal of this neglect and disrespect. It would be fairly easy, and more realistic, to celebrate adjuncts and recognize them for what they do. That would certainly be more in the spirit of the college as a learning community. Adjuncts turbo-charge the institution’s base of instructional talent, and so the rest of the community ought to be proud to be associated with them. Colleges have the opportunity, if they choose, to incorporate adjuncts more fully into meaningful conversations about the college work environment, and to enlist their help in urgent tasks such as student recruitment, engagement, and retention. We look forward to discussing these and other issues at the bargaining table with the McDaniel administration this fall. Adjuncts have much to offer and are willing to be active partners in the life of the College, but first they need a seat at the table. That is why that vote on June 6 was so important, and why we are looking forward to collaborative and productive collective bargaining negotiations at McDaniel. The author is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Rhode Island. He is also an adjunct instructor for McDaniel in Graduate and Professional Studies, and a member of the McDaniel Adjunct Faculty Union/SEIU Local 500 Leadership Team.
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Freshman Move-in Day Photos View all of the photos on our Facebook page! facebook.com/mcdfreepress
Photos by Kyle Parks, Editor-in-Chief & Multimedia Editor
Upon arriving, new students checked in and received their room keys.
Members of the McDaniel community assisted freshmen on move-in day.
In the afternoon, new students met their peer mentors before the Introduction Convocation.
When the night came, new students participated in “Out of the Darkness, into the Light.”
Students “rang in,” marking the beginning of their journeys at McDaniel.
After “ringing in,” students travelled down a path of cheering RAs and peer mentors.
A McDaniel Student Guide to Campus Safety
“They have to maintain their Stefan Specian Photo by Melanie Ojwang certifications and licensure the same Staff Reporter The Department of Campus Safety (DoCS) is often one of the most misunderstood organizations on campus, for a number of reasons. As such, a number of rumors fly every year about what Campus Safety is, is not, will, and will not do. As such, we at the Free Press felt it important to highlight both the policies of Campus Safety, and the recent changes that have occurred in the department over the last year. Special Police One of the most major changes that occurred with campus safety last year was director Jim Hamrick’s move to have all officers sworn as Special Police Officers. But what exactly does this distinction mean? “It gives that law enforcement authority to those officers within that specific geographic jurisdiction during the time that they are actually working,” states Hamrick, “anything that’s owned by McDaniel College, the officers would have full police jurisdiction there.” This allows for officers to perform a variety of functions, including conducting arrests, in a manner they were not certified to previously. Special Police Officers are also subject to a higher standard of training than their non-sworn counterparts.
as state, county, and municipal law enforcement officers,” said Law Enforcement Instructor Pat Rooney, “they get certified and licensed under the Maryland State Police.” It should be noted that in the past, campus safety was still able to arrest students, however only officers ranked sergeant and above could actually conduct the arrest. So what does this mean for McDaniel students? In many ways very little in the way of policy; if an action warranted an arrest prior to the change, then it still warrants one afterward. Furthermore, Hamrick states that, at the present, he has no plans to change McDaniel Campus Safety policies on arming police. “The other possibilities of weapons such as impact weapons, Tasers, firearms, that’s something that of course is, of course, in terms of the whole gamut of tools that might be accessible to the officers,” says Hamrick, “those are ongoing assessments but there is nothing underway to try to get them armed.” Prohibited Behaviors There’s often a bit of confusion among students regarding which behaviors and activities are and are not prohibited on McDaniel’s campus. While we’re not going to list out every policy in the
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in the student handbook (which can be found here), here are the major ones to know: Alcohol Students under the age of 21 cannot have or consume alcohol. Students over the age of 21 may consume beer and wine in their individual residences, as long as they are not substance free. Hard liquor is prohibited on campus. Drinking games and kegs are prohibited on campus. Social Hosting Students who host social events where policies are broken will be held responsible for doing so. Fines start at $100, and increase to $250 on subsequent instances. “Fines will be assessed per social host, and will not be divided among the room/apartment/house residents.” Drugs All illegal drugs are banned on campus. If found with illegal drugs, local law enforcement will be informed and further legal actions will likely be pursued by them. There are obviously many more restrictions, which can be found in the Student Handbook. Social Gatherings Social gatherings are a major part of McDaniel, and of the college experience in general. However, there are some important things to consider when planning one. First, the aforementioned social hosting rules apply to all people who would supply alcohol to underage students or allow such to be done at their event. If you’re hosting an event and underage students are drinking, understand that you will be held accountable. Second, as many may know, the unofficial policy on warnings has become stricter in the past few years. While in years prior parties would get a warning before being broken up, they are now simply being broken up at the first visit by campus safety. Keep this in mind.
What’s in Store for the Free Press
Kyle Parks
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Lastly, noise will get you shut down. If you leave the windows open as you blast music, sooner or later campus safety is going to come by and investigate. So if you can be heard across the entirety of North Village, get ready to get shut down pretty quickly. Parking If you have a vehicle on campus, there are a few things to make sure of. Firstly, make sure that the car has a temporary or permanent parking pass; otherwise, it will be ticketed or potentially towed. Secondly, be careful where you park. Stadium, North Village, North Village Overflow, Whiteford and Admissions are the only lots that are open 24/7 to students (except on football game weekends, when Stadium closes). All other lots are marked for faculty and staff during the day, and cars not moved from there will be ticketed. Ticketing usually occurs early in the morning (from 7-9 AM), and so if you are not one to get up early, make sure your car is in a proper parking lot before you go to sleep. On the weekends, holidays, and days school is not in session, parking rules do not apply. Final Thoughts Like it or not, students will be interacting with Campus Safety for the entirety of their time at McDaniel College, sometimes in good ways, other times not so much so. However, if students understand the means in which Campus Safety acts, and are able to act in an intelligent and informed manner around them, then they should be able to keep out of sticky situations.
Editor-in-Chief & Multimedia Editor Like any student organization on campus, the McDaniel Free Press undergoes various shifts between school years—for this year, we are working to implement a variety of improvements in the areas of multimodality, online presence, outreach, and our organizational meetings, among other goals. The Free Press has traditionally been focused on solely written journalism, but we now seek to continue moving beyond this sole focus. We have integrated photo essays in our content for quite some time, but we seek to improve and expand this. More photos will be seen on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. To aid this, we’ve also created a new Free Press Flickr account. Furthermore, we are hoping to feature more videos as part of our content. This is part of our larger goal to make our posts more multimodal. We even hope to be integrating audio through Spotify and Soundcloud embedding. As made clear by now, we are beginning to place more priority on our online presence. This is a process that largely began last semester, with the creation of a Free Press Instagram in addition to the highest level of social media activity the Free Press has had in its entire history. This semester, we seek to amplify this. Our website has also undergone maintenance over the summer, though we will be working to improve the organization of content and improve faulty and visually inadequate elements. The website’s functionality has begun to be improved, with easier navigation paths and the like. In the future, we will be looking into the potential for digital access to our print editions beyond each individual article. As an organization and publication, we are going to seek more outreach to McDaniel and beyond. If all goes well, we could potentially host events open to all members of the McDaniel community, such as talks with individuals involved in professional journalism. The Free Press wants to have a presence at more events and
Part of our plans include this new social media logo.
more places of McDaniel, so as to spread the word of our publication as well as integrate a wider array of viewpoints. We are hoping to conduct more class visits beyond classes who plan to submit content to us—if all goes well, editors will briefly outline the Free Press to classes that fall in line with what our paper does, and seeks to do. We are furthermore striving to promote more dialogue between students and administration. As part of this, we will likely be starting a column in which we take student rumors to administrators for comment. As a final major point, our meetings as an organization will be transformed. Not only will meeting times become for efficient and practical, but we are also going to hold a variety of meeting types. These range from regular budget/ brainstorming meetings, to workshops and discussions, all of which are open to all students. Our editors will also be continuing to hold office hours every week. During these times anyone will be welcome to visit our office in Hill 111. We encourage everyone to attend any of our meetings, regardless of their experience or how much content they are comfortable committing to. Regular email updates regarding meetings and other paper matters will be given to students on our email list. Office hours and meeting times will be announced in the next week. Be on the lookout for great things from the Free Press this year!