030311

MIAMI BEAT

NICK GOES WEST

Terps get stormed by ’Canes in 80-66 loss

Nickelodeon’s Rango is a kids movie for adults

SPORTS | PAGE 8

DIVERSIONS | PAGE 6

THE DIAMONDBACK THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Our 101ST Year, No. 103

Univ. Senate approves Good Samaritan policy After four years of debate, revisions, amnesty policy wins overwhelming approval from senators, administrators

BY YASMEEN ABUTALEB Staff writer

Students who once feared punishment from the university will soon be able to call for medical help if they or their friends are dangerously intoxicated, thanks to a near-unanimous University Senate vote yesterday.

The senate, which has debated the issue of recommending a Good Samaritan policy at this university for nearly four years, voted to approve a concrete policy that effectively protects students from university sanctions if they call 911 in alcoholrelated emergency situations.

When the policy was first introduced for debate a few years ago, it encountered significant resistance from members of the senate and administration. But yesterday’s vote showed a notable turnaround: 78 senators voted in favor and only one opposed.

Before the policy becomes official, university President Wallace Loh, who has expressed support for the initiative, must sign the proposal. In so doing, the Good Samaritan policy, which will take on the name of the protocol it aims to supersede, would replace the Promoting Responsible Action for Medical Emergencies Protocol that has been in effect since spring 2009.

Unlike the policy endorsed today, the protocol could be applied at the discretion of Office of Student Conduct Director John Zacker, meaning some could be subject to university punishments. When the protocol was voted on by the senate in April 2009, it, too, passed with only one opposing vote.

Nan Ratner, who chairs the committee that has drafted every version of the protocol and policy, said even though the vote was long overdue, it was

see POLICY, page 3

Parliamentarian Marvin Breslow and Senate Chair Linda Mabbs applaud yesterday as the Good Samaritan policy passes the senate in a 78 to one vote. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Commuter parking fee rises for those in nearby apartments

MITIGATING MALARIA University researchers use fungi to fight illnesses transmitted by insects

BY CLAIRE SARAVIA Staff writer

With the help of university research, malaria may have met its match.

For the past two years, entomology professor Raymond St. Leger and research associate Weiguo Fang have been genetically engineering a fungus species to attack the malaria-causing parasite on mosquitoes — a fungus they hope can

be used to combat other bug-borne diseases in the future. They have partnered with researchers at Johns Hopkins’ public health school and the University of Westminster in London in their enterprise.

In a lab on this campus, St. Leger and Fang inserted a fungus that naturally attacks mosquitoes into genes for a human antibody and a toxin found in scorpions, both of which

PHOTO COURTESY OF WEIGUO FANG.

DOTS officials say rise in cost will combat unnecessary car use

BY SPENCER ISRAEL Staff writer

see MALARIA, page 2

Students living in several off-campus apartments next fall will see the cost of commuter parking permits nearly double due to a new fee that DOTS officials hope will lessen vehicular traffic on the campus.

In addition to the $217 semester fee commuter students pay to park on the campus, students living in Seven Spring Apartments, the Towers at University Town Center, the University View, University Club, The Varsity, the Enclave, Mazza GrandMarc and Franklin Park Apartments will have to pay a new transportation demand management fee of $202, bringing the total to $419 for a semester.

Department of Transportation Services Assistant Director Beverly Malone said the new fee, which is intended to discourage students from driving the short distance to the campus, is part of a campus-wide plan to reduce the university’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“Our goal is to encourage people to look at alternatives,” Malone said, noting 37 percent of campus emissions comes from transportation. “It’s just part of our continuing efforts to encourage transportation other than single-passenger cars.”

The objective is to have 2,250 fewer parking permits by 2015, Malone said. But this new fee is only one part of that plan.

She said DOTS will also be opening more off-campus parkand-ride lots — which are mostly used by staff and faculty who park their cars in the lots and then take a bus to the campus — and relying more heavily on additional on-campus housing so

see PERMITS, page 2 CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Exploring immigration: a living history

Students resoundingly ask for Gmail to host univ. system Officials listen to concerns at town hall

BY LEAH VILLANUEVA Staff writer

For the second time, students told a committee yesterday what kind of university e-mail service they want to see in place next year: Gmail.

About 20 university community members, most of whom were students, came to a town hall meeting hosted by members of the Student E-mail Committee yesterday to voice questions and concerns over what service will ultimately be chosen to replace the unpopular Mirapoint student e-mail system.

Much of the discussion centered on the privacy and security risks surrounding switching accounts to Microsoft or Gmail, which was the

TOMORROW’S WEATHER:

preferred system chosen by students in a recent poll.

The committee, which aims to make its final recommendation to the University Senate Information Technology Council this month, began meeting in December and has been gathering feedback from students on the alternatives being considered. Undergraduate behavioral and social sciences legislator Zach Cohen, who sits on the committee, opened the forum by telling students the committee was there to hear directly from them.

“The decision we make here will have long-term impact, which is why we’re reaching out to students

see E-MAIL, page 2

Two professors launch center for the History of the New America

BY LEAH VILLANUEVA Staff writer

David Barks, OIT’s manager of enterprise Internet services, speaks to students about the e-mail service options being considered by the university at yesterday’s town hall meeting. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Partly Cloudy/40s

INDEX

NEWS . . . . . . . . . .2 OPINION . . . . . . . .4

FEATURES . . . . . .5 CLASSIFIED . . . . .6

In the eyes of history professor Ira Berlin, immigration is anything but a chapter in a dusty textbook — he’s working to bring the issue to life at the university.

Partnered with fellow history professor Julie Greene, Berlin launched the university’s Center for the History of the New America last month. The center, he said, will bring together a worldwide community of students, experts and lawmakers to study the international history of immigration while acting as a focal point for outreach to local immigrant communities in the area.

Berlin noted that while several other colleges and universities in the nation feature centers for the study of contemporary

DIVERSIONS . . . . .6 SPORTS . . . . . . . . .8

see IMMIGRATION, page 3

www.diamondbackonline.com

2

THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

PERMITS from page 1

Professor Raymond St. Leger and post doctoral student Weiguo Fang use different strains of fungi their research to combat malaria and lyme disease. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

MALARIA from page 1 are known to target the malaria-causing parasite.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins then applied the genetically engineered fungus carrying anti-malarial genes to mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite and found encouraging results.

“We can take a mosquito with an advanced infection, and within a couple of days, the mosquito is cleared of the infection,” St. Leger said.

St. Leger said the findings, published in the Feb. 24 issue of Science magazine, suggest their method of preventing the insect-to-human transfer of malaria, which kills about a million people every year, is more effective than killing the infected mosquitoes with

E-MAIL from page 1 across the campus,” he said.

“There’s pros and cons to everything we’re considering, so what we really need to hear from you is which pros are the best and which cons are easiest to mitigate.”

Throughout the forum, three of the four options — moving student accounts to the system used by faculty and staff, providing a forwarding-only service or continuing with Mirapoint — were largely absent from the discussion. Instead, students seemed most interested in the final option: outsourcing to either Google Apps for Education or Microsoft Live@edu, which will be called Live 365 next year.

Committee members explained each of the vendors’ features and also discussed some of the privacy and security risks associated with outsourcing. Because vendors may store the data in foreign databases, Google’s contract states e-mails may be subject to data mining — in which the company sells users’ information to firms hoping to profile potential customers — and neither

chemical insecticides, to which Fang said they can become resistant relatively easily.

“The big problem with chemical insecticides is mosquitoes are resistant to these types of chemicals, so we need a new way to control mosquitoes,” Fang said.

St. Leger added that the new technology is no more expensive than insecticides and could actually be used alongside insecticides to effectively evade the problem of mosquitoes developing resistance.

In addition, St. Leger said the new treatment for mosquitoes is a model that could potentially be emulated to fight other devastating bug-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease from ticks. He said the use of genetically engineered fungi in insect control has already proven to be an effective method elsewhere in the

world — such as Africa, China and Australia, where a similar fungus is already being used to control locusts.

“What probably works for malaria should work for other vector-borne diseases,” St. Leger said.

St. Leger said if the fungus is successful at targeting the malaria parasite on infected mosquitoes outside of the lab, mosquitoes could eventually become resistant to malaria and make the deadly disease history.

The next step in that process will be to infect mosquitoes in Africa and China with the fungus.

“Mosquitoes probably cause more human misery than any other organism,” he said. “We would really like to take this technology forward.”

vendor would accept responsibility for deleting user information if the university chooses to switch systems in the future.

The committee members fielded questions about the risks and two student representatives of Google were present to address these concerns. They said the email data would still be owned by the university and that Google would not access the information without its permission.

Ultimately, most students said the benefits of the Google service outweighed the risks. But committee members said while students often disregard such privacy risks when signing onto their own Google accounts, they were still matters the university had to consider seriously.

“Right now many of you are like, ‘It’s not big deal. So what?’ and it’s fairly benign,” committee chairman Michael Ball said. “But at some point it might be something of concern in the future, you just never know.”

And when the committee polled the audience on who wanted a Google account next year, hands went up all over the room. When asked who wanted the Microsoft system, only one student responded.

Junior biology and neurophysiology major Havi Schwav, who objected to Google as a provider, said she would prefer to stick to an oncampus e-mail system.

“I don’t like going to big companies and who are going to take my information and use it for their own purposes,” Schwav said.

However, Google campus ambassador and senior computer science major Jonathan Newmuis said in an interview after the meeting that Mirapoint comes with its own security risks, as well.

He said the system often gets flooded with spam and noted that scammers have taken student account information through their e-mails.

“I would feel a greater sense of security with a large and reputed corporation having access to the data,” he said.

Committee members said the student responses reflected what they had seen in original feedback.

“Originally, it was all just Gmail, Gmail, Gmail,” computer science and mathematics major Morgan Parker said after the meeting.

“Now it’s more of a more educated, informed thought process than the gut reaction.”

saravia@umdbk.com

villanueva@umdbk.com

CORRECTION Due to a source error, yesterday’s article “Pledging of three fraternities halted,” misidentified the president of Pi Kappa Alpha. The fraternity’s president is Aryaan Azarbarzin.

STUDENT MEMBER WANTED FOR STUDENT PUBLICATIONS' BOARD

!

D E D N E T X E E N I L DEAD Maryland Media, Inc., publishing board for the Diamondback, Eclipse, Terrapin, and Mitzpeh, has openings on its board of directors for two full-time students.

The Board of Directors sets general policy, approves budgets and selects the Editors-in-Chief for the student publications. The term of office is one year and begins in May, 2011. The Board meets about once a month during the school year.

For an application, stop by room 3136 South Campus Dining Hall and ask for Maggie Levy.

Applications are due by Wednesday, March 9th at noon.

fewer students have to commute to get to classes.

Despite the change, which makes the resident and commuter parking fees equivalent for students living in nearby apartments, Malone said such students will still be considered commuters.

The rise in cost will not change where commuter students are assigned parking, Malone said. On-campus residents will continue to be assigned to lots closer to dorms, while commuter students will remain in lots that have access to main roads going to and from the campus.

As of now, DOTS does not require students to submit their place of residency when applying for a parking permit, but that will change in the fall to accurately enforce the fee.

“We will be working with apartment complexes and matching their lists with ours next semester to make sure everyone gets charged the right amount,” Malone said.

This was not the only option DOTS discussed with students to reduce vehicular traffic. Malone said it also considered restricting permits to upperclassmen or altering the fee depend-

ing on how far students live from the campus, similar to a University of North Carolina parking policy.

Ultimately, though, DOTS Director David Allen said increasing the commuter fee was the best option.

“The overall picture is to reduce the number of cars on campus, and we feel this is the best way to do that,” he said.

The eight apartment buildings selected were designated because of the high Shuttle-UM access available to residents. If the fee works as planned, DOTS officials expect to see fewer commuter permits and an increase in ridership on these bus lines.

“I think it will [lead to an increase in ridership],” Allen said.

“To what extent, I don’t know, but I think it definitely will.”

To prepare for the change, Allen said DOTS has purchased additional buses, and officials will be monitoring these routes closely next semester to see if the fee was successful.

But many students were unhappy that commuter fees for some students had to increase for the department to meet its environmental goals.

Junior French and secondary education Sara Brinsko, a View resident, said many students park on the campus because it’s cheaper than the

“Part of the reason I don’t want to have a car is because I didn’t want to pay the money.”

JESSICA GILBERT SOPHOMORE MATHEMATICS MAJOR

apartment garages. “[The campus] is cheap; it’s safe. And now it’s a lot of money,” she said. “I bet they will lose a lot of money on this.”

And despite the proximity to a Shuttle-UM route, Brinsko said the buses aren’t as convenient as officials believe.

“They don’t go to many places off campus, and they come at inconvenient times,” she said. “I’ll probably just park in the [View] garage next semester.”

Other students — even some who don’t pay for on-campus permits — agreed.

“Part of the reason I don’t have a car is because I didn’t want to pay the money,” sophomore mathematics major Jessica Gilbert said. “It’s not fair for students who don’t have a choice.” israel@umdbk.com

ON THE BLOG blogs.umdbk.com/campusdrive IS THIS LOUD ENOUGH, LOH? “Support the workers, they’re on strike! Daycon’s gotta take a hike!”

Feminism Without Borders and Students for a Democratic Society shouted chants like these yesterday outside of McKeldin Library to protest the administration’s stance on Daycon — the university-contracted janitorial supply company that has recently been found guilty of federal labor violations.

What started out as 24 people chanting with signs led to 37 students screaming at the administration, 400 students accepting fliers and about 130 passersby signing a petition to stand in solidarity with the employees of Daycon.

To read more, visit The Diamondback’s online news blog, Campus Drive.

MARIA ROMAS/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK

THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

3

‘Underground’ pledging continues despite university crackdown Officials enforce GPA and credit minimums; fines and social moratoriums to be levied on fraternity violators

BY NAHAL MOTTAGHIAN For The Diamondback

Fraternities that continue to allow students who do not meet university requirements to pledge to their organizations may face sanctions and fines, said university officials who have vowed to crack down on the practice of underground pledging.

But that’s not stopping several fraternities from continuing to employ the practice during pledge season.

A student must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and have completed at least 12 credits in order to join a fraternity, according to university rules. If a student does not meet these requirements, Greek organizations will sometimes allow these individuals to join “underground.” This practice, university officials said, was particularly rampant in 2009, and has

since abated somewhat.

“It had reached a place where it was common enough that chapters could justify doing it as, ‘Well, lots of other people are doing it so it must not be that big of a deal,’” said Matt Supple, director of the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life. “So, the [Interfraternity Council] worked with our staff to make sure that chapters understood that it really is a big deal and we really are going to clamp down on it.”

Traditionally, if a fraternity is found to have pledged underground members the university will fine them about $250 per violation and place a social moratorium on the organization — two weeks per underground pledge. Several fraternities that were punished in 2009 claim to no longer engage in the process. Some members said

the crime isn’t worth the time.

“Our new member class has a 3.4 cumulative GPA. They are required to tell us their GPA and amount of credits at our recruitment events in order to receive a bid, and then after the bid is signed, they must submit a transcript verifying that information,” said sophomore letters and sciences major Jimmy Gray, president of Phi Gamma Delta. “It is not worth it to get in trouble.”

Two years ago, university officials and the IFC teamed up to offer chapters an opportunity to come forward and admit that they had taken underground members. If organizations chose to out themselves, the penalties would be cut to a $100 fine and one week of social moratorium per violation.

Supple said 10 chapters admitted to taking underground members in the past.

Inter fraternity Council President Brian Toll, who is a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, said those ef for ts proved successful.

“Chapter presidents and other chapter leaderships voluntarily came forward with the information because they wanted to start to play by the rules and get a fresh start with the executive board and the whole IFC community at that time,” Toll said, adding that underground pledging was such a big problem that even fraternities that were IFC members came forward.

Toll said since then, the problem has seemingly decreased.

“I think it has gone down significantly because of the strides that the executive board and the IFC made,” Toll said.

But several members of

Greek organizations said their fraternities still engage in the process.

“I’m not sure if I would say that most fraternities still have underground pledging, but I’m positive it is still going on,” said a senior whose fraternity was suspended by the university.

“With the high amounts of fraternities at Maryland vying for a small batch of potential new members, things get competitive and you have to truly consider taking unconventional methods in order to survive.”

But, he added, some students said underground pledging is not solely an issue for smaller fraternities who are trying to “survive.”

“Big fraternities think they are too big to be caught and take underground pledges as well,” he said.

Some fraternity members said determining if potential

IMMIGRATION from page 1

Undergraduate Senator Zach Cohen speaks passionately in favor of the Good Samaritan policy at Wednesday’s Senate meeting. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

POLICY from page 1 worth waiting for.

“Anything that’s that important is worth doing the right way, so that there can be no legal challenges to it, so that it solves the ‘perception’ problem, and there were just a lot of things that had to happen,” she said after the meeting. “The obvious question is going to be: ‘Why do you need the change?’ And that’s what it took the longest period of time to do. I think it’s doing its job, and I think it took a while to do it right.”

Before the body voted on the proposed policy, several pledged their support for the bill and told senators a vote for the Good Samaritan policy equated to a vote for the health and safety of students.

“I urge everyone to vote for this,” staff senator Alan Holmes said. “I have been a firefighter and paramedic in this county for 33 years. I have run calls on this campus for students that have had alcohol overdoses.

I’ve had to transport them to the hospital; I know what they’re going through. You need to pass this. It needs to go through today.”

In her opening remarks, Ratner said adopting a policy was crucial to the health and well-

being of students on the campus, even if it only helps one person.

“If adoption of this recommended policy prevents one unnecessary student death or injury or saves one single parent the grief of having their child receive help too late, it will have achieved its goal,” she said.

Zach Cohen, an undergraduate student senator, said the policy’s benefits outweigh other concerns that have been voiced in the past, such as its potential to serve as justification for students to act out of control.

“We have the potential to possibly save lives and help students today,” he said. “Any other concerns that could be brought up are really unsubstantial considering what we can do to help students.”

Undergraduate student senator Lisa Crisalli, who worked with Zacker to draft the final version of the policy, said adopting it would improve the overall health of the campus.

“What we have before us is the opportunity to codify a protocol that puts health first, that offers students who have found themselves in a dangerous situation a receptive hand to reach for,” she said. “It has taken years of work for us to reach this point, and today I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish.”

As senators silently cast their

votes, the tension in the room was palpable. Students sat with bated breath, waiting for the results.

Several, after seeing the overwhelming numbers appear on the projector screen, stood and applauded the senate’s decision.

Alumna Stacia Cosner, who first introduced the idea of adopting such a policy to members of the senate in 2007, was almost at a loss for words after the votes were cast.

“I’m really thrilled,” she said, as tears welled up in her eyes.

“This is really wonderful. I couldn’t be happier.”

Although the senate has deemed the matter resolved, some students said yesterday’s vote was merely another step in a fight that is far from over.

Yakov Kronrod, a graduate student senator, said students and faculty still need to modify the policy to protect students who have overdosed on drugs as well — in its written form, the policy only applies to alcohol-related incidents.

“I want to make it clear that I don’t support limiting [the policy] to what it states now,” he said before the vote. “I hope that once it’s in place, we can take the next step of action and do what I think we should have been doing all along.” abutaleb@umdbk.com

immigration, the focus on immigration’s histor y has been largely overlooked in the world of academia. This university’s program, the creators said, will bring this perspective to the forefront.

“This is such a fascinating moment of American histor y that we’re living through,” Greene said. “As historians, we were really interested to be a part of that conversation happening in America about the relationship between America as a nation and the immigrants who are building and rebuilding America as we speak.”

And while the center has only just begun — it has yet to find a physical home on the campus or establish a permanent staff — Berlin and Greene said the project has already received support and seed grants from the provost’s office, the vice president for research and the dean of the arts and humanities college.

They added that they are starting to network with several university departments, including criminology and criminal justice, anthropology, Latin American studies and journalism.

Berlin said it is no surprise the topic of immigration has generated interest university-wide, noting that university President Wallace Loh is an immigrant and many students and faculty, especially in the histor y department, are foreign-born or have immigrant roots.

“One of the nice things about this project is that we feel like we’re pushing on an open door, that when we tell people about it, they kind of say, ‘Ah-hah!’ and they like the idea,” Berlin said. “It’s been very rewarding in the sense that a lot of people want to be a part of this project.”

The center is also forging relationships with federal agencies, including a collaboration with anthropology professor Judith Freidenberg in a large grant proposal to the Smithsonian Institution. The networking has even reached

a global scale, as the center established a relationship with the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, which is compiling an archive on the African diaspora.

Freidenberg, who heads the university’s Anthropology of the Immigrant Life Course Research Program, said the creation of this new center is fostering collaboration across disciplines to generate new knowledge about immigration.

“By bringing in the historical perspective, we can have the long view and also have the more contemporar y view,” Freidenberg said. “By collaborating with trained historians, we can do more in getting information about this issue to the general public.”

And histor y graduate student Stephanie Reichelderfer, who has been involved in planning the center, said the initiative’s interdisciplinar y nature will further enhance graduate student research.

“I think that too often graduate students who have a similar interest in the same subject, but are from different disciplines, do not have the chance to get together and discuss their ideas,” Reichelderfer wrote in an email. “I believe that the Center will help to break down these walls and build a community focused on the topic of immigration and migration.”

Berlin, who released his fourth book on the AfricanAmerican experience last month, said the study of immigration in American society must also embrace it on the community level. Prince George’s County has a large number of new immigrant communities, and Berlin said he hopes to collaborate with Freidenberg on a future project where students would go into these communities and gather oral histories of these new immigrants.

“Many of us come here and we leave and we see

members meet university requirements does not seem to be a priority.

“Personally, when we recruit we don’t really ask [if students meet the requirements],” said a senior marketing major who is the rush chair of his fraternity. “We recruit them and get them interested, then before pledging starts we would kind of find out. But I know that a lot of people don’t follow those rules anyways.”

During last semester’s recruitment, he said six out of his fraternity’s 10 new members did not meet university requirements. He also said his fraternity would still give a bid to someone who did not meet university regulations.

“And I know for a fact that other fraternities would also give them a bid.” news@umdbk.com

“By bringing in the historical perspective, we can have the long view and also have the more contemporary view.”

JUDITH FREIDENBERG ANTHROPOLOGY PROFESSOR

many of the signs in different languages as we drive off, but we don’t really connect with those communities,” Berlin said. “We want to make them feel welcome on this campus.”

Berlin said the center is working to create new courses, hire new faculty with immigration expertise and perhaps offer a certificate or minor in immigration studies.

Histor y professor David Sicilia is planning the center’s first conference on immigrants and entrepreneurship for the spring or fall 2012.

Ultimately, the center’s leaders hope it will generate new understanding of the national discussion of immigration from a fresh perspective.

“We don’t think of ourselves as a Washington think tank or a political advocacy group,” Sicilia said. “This immigrant issue is very hot and very political and one where there’s been a kind of yelling back and forth, often without a lot of good information at hand, especially without a historical perspective and sometimes without much objectivity. We hope to be a calmer voice in this discussion and hope to bring to bear very good empirical research about this issue.” villanueva@umdbk.com

MORE ONLINE

www.diamondbackonline.com Visit our website to read about Ira Berlin’s lecture on his latest book last night.

NO MORE ECLIPSE! No one has applied to be Editor-in-Chief of Eclipse, the Black Student Newspaper.

No Editor – No Eclipse!

We will extend the deadline for applications until Thursday, March 10th.

Applications can be picked up in the Diamondback Business Office, 3136 South Campus Dining Hall, 9:30am-4:30pm.

Eclipse 1968-2011

R.I.P.

4

THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

Opinion

THE DIAMONDBACK

MARISSA LANG EDITOR IN CHIEF

YOUR INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK PHONE: (301) 314-8200 | FAX: (301) 314-8358 3150 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL | COLLEGE PARK, MD 20742 NEWS@UMDBK .COM | OPINION@UMDBK .COM

KATE RAFTERY

ANN SUN

MANAGING EDITOR

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

JUSTIN SNOW

KEVIN TERVALA

OPINION EDITOR

OPINION EDITOR

Staff editorial

Guest column

A strategy for change

Liberal language

A

t yesterday’s University Senate meeting, David resoundingly tri- make their voices heard. And though Cosner, along with many of the other umphed over Goliath and university history was made, proving that original proponents, has since graduated, the issue they began outlived them, students, if willing to invest dedication and hard work, can make sub- carried on by a new generation.

This university owes a debt of gratitude to those countless students who stantial change happen at this university, even in the face of seemfought tooth and nail to ensure the dream of a Good Samaritan policy became a ingly insurmountable opposition.

Although it was nearly impossible to tell — 78 senate members voted to reality. Yet the real story is not that the policy passed — although that is cerapprove a policy that shields students from university sanctions if they risk tainly monumental — but that yesterday’s success proved the true power stucalling for emergency help in situations where they or their friends are danger- dents can wield if they exercise passion, patience and perseverance.

Far too often, students at this institution try to create change in isolation. ously intoxicated, while only one opposed — the nearly four-year fight to The SGA, for example, may pass a resolution demanding action but does not implement what is known as a Good Samaritan policy was not one that stuwork with student activists to lobby administrators or dents were expected to win. senators and make that change happen. Concurrently, When then-undergraduate university senator Stacia student activists too often demand change without bothCosner introduced a proposal to establish such a policy Student leaders and activists ering to engage student leaders in the university’s govin 2007, it was quickly rebuked. Resident Life Associate erning bodies, including the senate, SGA and Residence Director Steve Petkas, for instance, said such a policy can learn much from the Hall Association. While it may only take a few weeks for was unnecessary and would further encourage students collaborative efforts that the SGA to pass a resolution or for a student group to to use drugs and alcohol. And John Zacker, director of the Office of Student Conduct, argued against its adopbrought about the University organize a protest, the process to enact long-standing, university-wide change is long and arduous. Studies tion because, he said, the policy’s breadth would hinder Senate’s passage of a Good must be done. Opinions must be gathered. Constituenhis office’s ability to tailor punishments for students who Samaritan policy yesterday. cies must be allowed to debate. Committee meetings had violated university underage-drinking policies. must be convened. And, perhaps most importantly, Moreover, after debating the merits of the Good Samaritan proposal during the 2007-2008 academic year, the senate’s Student Con- compromise must be deemed acceptable.

If real change is to be made, student leaders must be in it for the long haul duct Committee unanimously voted to kill Cosner’s proposal.

In spite of the initial widespread opposition among administrators, faculty and prepared for the possibility that they may not see their work materialize, and staff to the idea of a Good Samaritan policy, Cosner did not give up. She as tangible results may not be achieved during their tenure at this university. kept fighting. But instead of waging a war by herself or strictly enlisting the This is also why, for progress to be achieved, students must learn to reach out help of a single student organization, Cosner built an army, recruiting stu- to one another and pass down the work they have done to others willing and dents from all walks of life to join the battle. Indeed, in the three and a half able to carry it on.

As the university celebrates the approval of a policy that will undoubtedly years that it took for the senate to approve a firm policy, one that includes changes to the Student Conduct Code, countless numbers of students have save students from injur y and possibly death, this editorial board encouradvocated for the policy. From the Student Government Association to this ages students to remember the process that allowed this to happen. If they university’s chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy to unaffiliated stu- forget the past, overlooking the lessons which the nearly four-year fight for a dents from every corner of this university, all united to speak at forums, lobby Good Samaritan policy can teach them, they will surely be unable to impact their university senators, meet with administrators, vote in referendums and the future.

Our View

Editorial cartoon: Kevin Brooks

Jobs: A bleak forecast

A

re there jobs waiting for us on the outside? Will all of the time, not to mention money, spent on obtaining an education pay off? We cannot forget that by having attended college, we have foregone possible wealth accumulation.

And for many of us, the price of an education requires us to keep shoveling deeper into caverns of debt. Certainly, college has its benefits outside of enhanced job prospects — namely social networking, independent living and learning new skills. However, the overriding question for most students (and their parents) is, how effectively will this education catapult me into the upper income brackets? That is, some of us probably pondered toward the end of high school, what can I do to ensure that I’m not working at Bob’s Café in four years? The answer may not be as clear as it once seemed.

The College Board once suggested that there is a significant difference in lifetime earnings between those who choose to attend college and those who

STEVEN SPINELLO defer higher education. The company reported on its website that the gap could be as large as $800,000. However, in a recent article published by The Wall Street Journal, this number was refuted by several leading economists and a more accurate estimate was determined to be $250,000. The College Board has since updated its website and removed the figure.

Under normal circumstances, discounting any era of irrational exuberance (see: 2000-2007), a solid education from a four-year university would have automatically implied higher lifetime earnings. In the land before time, when words such as “recession” or “unemployed” were most often reserved for our grandparents’ fireside chats,

attending college was a no-brainer. One didn’t have to look very far to see how Suzy the high-school dropout was faring. She was likely asking whether you wanted fries with your burger. But times have changed. No longer is it entirely unimaginable to stumble across a recent graduate in Suzy’s position. I personally know of friends and family members who graduated in the thick of the recent economic downturn, and they skip about from odd job to odd job, mail out mountains of job applications and entrust their hopes and dreams to chance. Like victims of a Venus Flytrap — the flytrap being the economy — their wings are stuck in a thick sludge of missed opportunities and waning job prospects.

What do the current employment numbers suggest? According to its most recent data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds stands at 15.2 percent. That is more than six percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate.

However, what the data doesn’t tell you is how many people are underemployed, working part-time jobs or simply clinging to whatever is available.

The fundamental problem facing recent graduates has evolved with the changing landscape: It is not so much a question of what kind of job will I get, but when will I get a job?

The weak job market is certainly not applicable to every student. Many soonto-be graduates will or already have located employment. At the same time, there are many students who will have lost out on productive employment due to an outsized demand of jobs and limited supply. It is imperative that students do everything in their power to develop a truly diverse skill set that allows them to compete in a global economy. But perhaps more importantly, when jobs are this scarce, we may just have to create our own.

Steven Spinello is a junior economics major. He can be reached at spinello@umdbk.com.

The r-word: Missing the point

Y

esterday was National Spread the Word to End the Word day. Apparently, “the word” is actually the “rword,” which is the word “retard(ed).”

I’ll translate that from politically correct gobbledygook into plain English: Organizers of the Special Olympics founded www.r-word.org to eliminate the derogatory use of the words “retard” and “retarded.” Instead, they argue, we should adopt the phrase “intellectually disabled.” Doing so will somehow improve the lives of “people with ID and their families and friends.”

I’d argue that yesterday should have been called Missing the Point Day. People with mental disabilities — and words to describe them — have presumably existed since the advent of man. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “feeble-minded” has been in use since at least 1534, when an early Bible translation of First Thessalonians encouraged readers to “comforte the feble mynded.” The word “moron” originates from the first IQ test charts and was used to describe those scoring

between 50 and 70. “Idiot” was first used as a scientific term around 1400. “Retardation,” which the OED defines as “the fact or condition of being slowed down or delayed,” has been in use since at least 1437 and was first used by psychologists around 1892. All of those words have been used — first as objective descriptors, later as pejorative insults — to describe the same group of people. All of those words have fallen prey to the same modern-day euphemism: intellectually disabled.

Seventeen years ago, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker wrote in The New York Times about the so-called euphemism treadmill: “People invent new ‘polite’ words to refer to emotionally laden or distasteful things, but the euphemism becomes tainted by association and the new one that must be found acquires its own negative connotations. ... Give a concept a new name, and the name becomes colored by the concept.”

Comedian George Carlin famously lamented the euphemism treadmill of the word cripple (crip-

CHRISTOPHER HAXEL pled -> handicapped -> disabled -> physically challenged), asserting that handicapped people “will say, ‘We’re not handicapped, we’re handicapable!’ These poor suckers have been bullshitted by the system into believing that if you change the name of the condition, somehow you’ll change the condition.”

The r-word movement is another example of the euphemism treadmill.

Today, www.r-word.org claims that the word “retarded” is hate speech; only 20 years ago, this country’s largest organization advocating for retarded people was called the Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States.

Then in 1992, it magically decided to change its name to The Arc. Keep in mind that Arc doesn’t stand for anything anymore. It’s not an acronym,

and that “r” certainly doesn’t stand for “retarded” because that would be hate speech. Since 1992.

I fear the r-word movement discourages serious debate on the topic of mental disabilities. How many people avoid the discussion because they don’t know the “proper” terminology or fear retribution from r-word apologists? There’s even a widget on www.rword.org that enables users to “count the R-word on any site” to see whether a particular website is free of such “hate speech.” After publication of this column, the tool should uncover — by my count — no fewer than 11 instances of the r-word on The Diamondback’s website. I’m actually going out of my way to write the words “retard” and “retarded” over and over again because I want those people on www.r-word.org to hear me loud and clear: If you want mentally retarded people to have a better life, stop bullshitting them.

Christopher Haxel is a junior English major. He can be reached at haxel@umdbk.com.

O

ne reason why liberal politicians actually survive in the world of politics is not necessarily their ideas, but more the language that they use to explain them. Immigration is ground zero for this behavior, and Michael Casiano hit the jackpot with his Monday article, “Nationhood: Give me a border.”

“Undocumented” is a nice way of referring to an immigrant as “illegal.”

Naturally, proponents of open-border policies on the left love to use the term “undocumented” so they can paint their law-breaking friends in the best light possible. However, Democrats hate when the term “alien” is used by anti-illegal immigration politicians, despite the fact that the original meaning of the word “alien” is “a resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalization,” according to Dictionary.com.

Next, Casiano writes that, “‘Nationhood’ is somehow contingent on geography. If your parents aren’t born here, then you’re not a citizen. But how many people think about their ties to a nation that way?”

First, legal, non-citizen residents of this country have children here all the time. The only difference between legal residents and illegal aliens doing this is that legal residents don’t always come to this country for this reason. And, yes, if you are born in this country, you are more inclined to gain a sense of national pride than in any other way.

Being born here (or anywhere) is what opens the door for people to live in and learn the ways of the culture. But Casiano tries to ask that question in a way that makes the reader feel stupid or ridiculous if they believe it.

The next example is classic liberalism: an appeal to the emotions of the reader. He implies the cruelty of deporting a child born in the United States to the country from which his or her parents illegally emigrated. It may sound sad to some, but this trend of hopping the border to give birth has got to stop. Casiano loves to talk about fairness and equality in this article, yet he fails to mention the millions who immigrate the legal way and have to wait years — sometimes decades — to come to this country. Is that fair? He doesn’t want borders, so anybody — even those immigrating legally — can come here whenever they want. But, for all non-citizens, coming to this country is a privilege, not a right. We have stood by that since our founding, and that will never and should never change. So when people try to take advantage of the system and gain access over those who play by the rules, it’s irritating — and that’s speaking for the overwhelming majority of America.

He also describes Congress as “simplifying the ‘problem,’” putting “problem” in quotations, despite the fact that illegal immigration has brought job loss, gang violence and drug cartels into this country — “problems” that will only continue to increase.

Finally, he writes about how immigration and naturalization laws “exclude people of color from the work sector and the country.” This is just ridiculous. He’s taking one race of people and then using a term to describe them that bases the entire issue on race. Anyone who thinks that opponents of illegal immigration believe so because of race is ignorant.

And the phrase “people of color” is used to make readers just assume that it’s not limited to one “people of color.”

It’s never about race. It’s about doing what’s right. Liberal language often tricks the country into horrible policies, and it’s time for that to stop.

Kevin Hannigan is a senior communication major. He can be reached at khanniga@umd.edu.

AIR YOUR VIEWS Address your letters or guest columns to the Opinion Desk at opinion@umdbk.com. All letters and guest columns must be signed. Include your full name, year, major and day- and nighttime phone numbers. Please limit letters to 250 words.

Please limit guest columns from 550 to 600 words. Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright in the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.

POLICY: 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.

THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011 | THE DIAMONDBACK

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Features HOROSCOPESTELLA WILDER

CROSSWORD ACROSS 58 Shaman’s guide 1 More weird 60 Incisor or molar 6 Rookie surfer 65 Drop — — line 11 — out (relax) 66 Bug off 14 Coeur d’— 67 Sun, in combos 15 Yemeni neighbor 68 Top seed’s 16 Dazzle reward 17 Bolshoi rival 69 Cherbourg shes 18 “Laugh-In” 70 On both feet cohost DOWN 19 Authorize 20 Bean or Welles 1 Acorn dropper 22 Turn inside out 2 551, to Ovid 24 The lily maid 3 Van — Waals of — force 28 Shamelessly bold 4 U2 producer 29 Arrow parts 5 Mutiny 30 City near Canton 6 Seismic uplift 32 Dogie 7 Melville novel 33 Larger 8 Daybreak 35 College focal 9 Santa — winds point 10 Moolah 39 Not a dup.

11 Glens 40 Fasten securely 12 Still-life subjects 41 A law — itself 13 J. Paul — 42 Vulcan high 21 Impulsive priestess 23 Overcome 43 Pooh creator 24 Wide cravat 45 Artifact 25 On the ball 46 “Die 26 Shire of “Rocky” Fledermaus” role 27 Way to be caught 48 Gather 28 Shivery 50 Styx ferryman comment 53 Titled woman 30 Spry 54 Sonata movement 31 Quick-witted 55 Legal substitute 34 Gas or tel.

57 Nth deg.

36 Excessive

© 2011 UNITED FEATURES SYNDICATE

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orn today, you know how to present yourself as required in different situations, but this is not something unique to you. What is unique, however — or at least very rare indeed — is your ability to remain true to the real you even when you adopt a persona that is nothing like yourself for the purposes of a given situation or opportunity. There are those, of course, who will say that you are simply selling out when you change your image to maximize your rewards, but this is only true if you find yourself losing touch with yourself — which is hardly likely, no matter what situations may arise.

B

You aren’t one to let work go undone if you have any opportunity to do it; you want to do things on time, up to par, and in a way that satisfies your need to get it right at all times. The only situation in which this may not be true is when it comes to saving money; this is not something that you do naturally, and you may have to learn how to do it the hard way.

Also born on this date are Jessica Biel, actress; James Doohan, actor; Jean Harlow, actress; Alexander Graham Bell, inventor; Miranda Richardson, actress; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic athlete.

To see what is in store for you tomorrow, find your birthday and read the corresponding paragraph. Let your birthday star be your daily guide.

not threaten your standing or reputation. Still, the truth must be told.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — Now is a good time to test the waters — before you have to commit one way or the other.

Patience is required of those leaning on you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — A good-humored approach to the most stubborn problems can win the day for you — and earn you greater respect in the days to come.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Though you are nominally in charge, you are likely to find yourself doing things because someone else wants them done.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — You can expect things to change rather abruptly halfway through the day. You can rely on a close family member to assist you.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — You may want to stay away from the center of the action out of selfpreservation, but you’ll be drawn to it, surely.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — You may find that things are progressing without your control in ways that you cannot fully anticipate. Be ready for anything.

D E E D S

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — You’ll want to answer the questions put to you in ways that do

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Don’t keep things from those who care about you. Indeed, the more personal information they have, the more help they can provide.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — It’s a good day for reviewing your personal situation — and for making a directional swing in your professional path, too.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — It’s likely to take longer than expected to do what is necessary, primarily because someone is making things awkward.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — You may feel that you don’t have to do any preparation before launching into something new, but that would be a major error.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — Cooperative efforts are favored, and you’ll want to resist the temptation to share your every opinion at every opportunity.

Copyright 2011 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

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THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

HOFF HIGHLIGHTS

Diversions

SHERLOCK HOLMES The Hoff Theater in Stamp Student Union was once a great place to see cheap films throughout the semester. It still is, but the film screenings are less frequent. Luckily, Student Entertainment Events is hosting a number of free screenings at the theater in the coming weeks. Sherlock Holmes, the 2009 Guy Ritchie film starring Robert Downey Jr., plays tonight at 7 p.m. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 screens March 10 at 7 p.m.

arts. music. living. movies. weekend.

REVIEW | RANGO

Existentialism for kids

BY ZACHARY BERMAN Senior staff writer

Nickelodeon’s new computerized cartoon-western extravaganza Rango is one of the few children’s movies that successfully makes you want to be a kid again.

The film follows in the footsteps of many of the best so-called children’s movies in recent memory, Pixar’s Up being its closest contemporary in spirit. Rango, however, takes the “adult movies made for kids” genre to a whole other level — don’t expect kids to understand three-quarters of what goes on in this film.

This is exactly why Rango becomes a movie that will make parents wish they still had the boundless imagination and blissful ignorance of their children. For university students, watching an old episode of Nickelodeon’s Rugrats series will cause a similar reaction (seriously, there’s a lot of stuff you missed in grade school).

Rango tracks the bizarre adventures of the chameleon title character

(Johnny Depp, The Tourist), who is not named Rango before the plot begins and seemingly has no identity at all. He is trapped in a poorly cobbled together terrarium, acting out his dreams of being a performer, which, in many ways, seems to mirror popular characterizations of Depp himself.

After being jettisoned from a car, the as-of-yet nameless hero begins his quest for identity in the desert. The movie reaches its peak of strangeness right from the get-go, rarely letting up on its head-scratching yet hilarious philosophical quandaries.

Using a classic plot device, Rango becomes the sheriff of an Old Weststyle town, giving the film its spaghetti Western accents. From here, the movie evolves into a delightful action adventure which features mostly predictable plot twists, yet highly original jokes and actions scenes to keep even the most jaded viewer interested.

After viewing Rango, many will wish they had the childhood luxury of returning to this beautifully animated and well-paced adventure film

15 years later and be able to newly recognize all the diverse, disturbing elements that populate the animated animal world: a rabbit who is an alcoholic; the town doctor’s (Stephen Root, Cedar Rapids) starvationinduced hallucinogenic dreams; Clint Eastwood as voiced by Timothy Olyphant (I Am Number Four); and assorted harlots and jezebels.

The movie is rife with both concrete and metaphorical comments on the power of religious leaders to create a belief system to control the masses and philosophical battles over the concept of what it means to be someone. The film even has an early cameo by Raoul Duke, of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, likely voiced by but not credited to Depp, who played him in the original film.

All the adult themes are great, but this is a kids’ movie, and those adult themes don’t always make something exciting. But Rango pays off on all fronts.

For starters, the computer-generated animation in this film is incredible — a mixture of Pixar’s comic

Rango is an inspired tale for adults and children finds the heroes aboard a carriage of precious water being hunted by a legion of bat-riding moles, is equal parts hilarious, fast-paced and exciting. Yet again, the visuals are a treat to the ocular nerves.

The quality of most children’s movies these days is faltering — far too many Shreks and one too many Alpha and Omega — so it’s nice to see a film that wants to appeal to all ages in an appropriate way. Instead of placating the youngsters, the filmmakers play the more dangerous game of making Rango a film appealing to adults while leaving enough crumbs behind to grasp the minute attention spans of the rated-PG crowd.

With Pixar’s ridiculous Cars sequel coming quickly down the pipeline, Nickelodeon proves there’s plenty to be said for other cartoon films. And come next Oscar season, don’t expect this gem to be forgotten.

curves with real-world textures makes this film a unique onscreen beauty. This is particularly relevant on the big screen, where closeups of characters’ faces seem almost too real to be animated. Some of the landmasses have photo-realistic qualities that are quite striking.

On top of that, the voice acting crafts a near-perfect match between the environments and writing. The acting caliber is high — Depp, Ned Beatty (Toy Story 3), Bill Nighy (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1), Alfred Molina (The Tempest), Abigail Breslin (Janie Jones), the list goes on.

As stated, the plot is predictable in nature, but then again, there are only really seven basic human stories, so the idea that Rango tells a familiar one shouldn’t be surprising.

The writers make up for it with a vast array of wild embellishments and some truly awe-inspiring battle scenes. The canyon chase, which

berman@umdbk.com

MOVIE: Rango | VERDICT:

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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

7

Guard Pe’Shon Howard and the Terp bench struggled last night, managing a combined seven points in their 14-point loss to Miami. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADRIANNE D'ANGELO/THE MIAMI HURRICANE

MIAMI from page 8 halves his team has played all season, Williams stood glower-

ing on the sidelines just minutes into the game, his eyes staring down Cliff Tucker as the senior walked toward his spot along the painted area.

Tucker had just fouled

IOVINO from page 8 autonomic nervous system.

The condition affected her ability to carry out the processes most people take for granted, such as blinking. Iovino’s doctor deemed her case “severe,” ruling out any possibility of a return to gymnastics.

For someone who trained 40 hours a week during high school, adjusting to a life without the sport she loved wasn’t easy.

“I had no closure,” Iovino said. “It was like I woke up one day, and suddenly everything I knew was being taken away from me.”

While her teammates began their competition schedule, Iovino struggled to get out of bed. She spent evenings crying on the phone with her little sister, Ali, as she grappled with her new reality more than 800 miles away from family and friends.

“It was so hard because I felt like there was nothing I could do,” said Ali, a freshman on the Terrapin competitive cheer team. “I remem-

Miami guard Rion Brown on a successful 3-pointer that Brown quickly added to at the freethrow line. Williams had no words, only a look of disappointment. His Terps hadn’t

ber that I used to always ask her the same question: ‘When you really dig deep down, do you still have that same love for the sport?’”

Her answer was always yes.

Even while Iovino was placed on a medical scholarship, which allowed her to attend Alabama for free without competing in gymnastics, she couldn’t shake her passion for the sport she took up as a 3-year-old.

“No matter what anyone told me, I never really thought my gymnastics career was completely over,” she said. “Maybe I just wasn’t fully willing to accept the severity of my situation, but I always wanted to compete again.”

And then, in March of her sophomore year, the unexpected happened: She started feeling better.

No longer in constant fear of fainting, she began exercising casually during the summer of 2009.

When she transferred to this university the following semester, her expectations were modest.

“When I came back home, my goal was just to be a normal student,” Iovino said. “I wanted to earn

come to play.

“We can’t really blame it on anything else but ourselves,” guard Terrell Stoglin said. “We have to come out and want the game. If we don’t want the game we’re going to lose.”

The Terps’ hold on the game started to slip away about eight minutes into the first half. Following a 12-0 run, the Hurricanes had a 28-18 lead with 8:28 remaining before intermission.

The Terps looked out of sync offensively, failing to hit shots or find openings in their offense. Miami (18-12, 6-9) so stymied the Terps last night that at points they were forced into desperation heaves near the end of the shot clock.

Williams even turned to littleused freshman forward Mychal Parker at one point for a spark of energy.

Brown, meanwhile, continued his unforeseen production off the bench for the Hurricanes. He finished with 19 points on 6-for-7 shooting from behind the arc, seemingly connecting from deep every time the Terps went on a run.

“Sometimes, you don’t know where it’s going to come from. I

my degree while focusing on getting my health back to where it needed to be.”

Despite her best intentions, however, Iovino couldn’t stop contemplating a return to gymnastics.

“I knew I wanted to give gymnastics a shot, but I had very basic ideas of what I would be able to do,” she said. “It wasn’t about being the best anymore, it was just about doing it because I love it.”

So she called Nelligan — the same coach whose phone calls she ignored years before and who had just taken over the Terp program — and asked for an opportunity to join the team.

“When she called me, I was really excited,” Nelligan said. “I mean, I already knew that she had this great gymnast inside of her. It was just going to be a matter of finding it again.”

But for Iovino, “finding it” required more than getting back into shape or relearning a few routines. It meant a complete adjustment in how she approached day-to-day life.

A self-described perfectionist, she

thought we were ready to play,” Williams said. “We had a good practice, we had a good shootaround, but we didn’t look like we did.”

Forward Jordan Williams, in particular, was lacking. He struggled all night against 300pound center Reggie Johnson, needing 17 field-goal attempts to finish with 11 points.

“That’s quite a few shots,” Gary Williams said. “You have to put the ball in the basket.”

Stoglin scored 20 points and added five assists, while guard Adrian Bowie added 15 points to help the Terps pull within five after a 17-5 second-half run. But Hurricane guard Malcolm Grant hit a 3-pointer with 11:10 remaining, and the Terps never came closer to regaining the lead.

“We got a little individual out there. We didn’t pass it like we usually do,” said Gar y Williams, referencing the team’s 16 assists. “On a good night, you get 20 [assists].

Maybe that explains a lot of things.”

“He’s 100 percent correct,” Stoglin said. “Our teammates, we have to trust each other if

learned to be patient with herself.

“A lot of times, when I first got back into the sport, I got really frustrated with myself,” Iovino said. “I would remember what I used to be able to do, and that’d cause me to get ahead of myself. I had to learn how to slow down, to take one step at a time.”

After competing regularly on vault last year, Iovino is one of the No. 31 Terps’ key contributors this season. While continuing to score consistently on vault, she’s become one of Nelligan’s top performers on beam — a fact evidenced by Sunday’s 9.825.

“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” Iovino said. “If I hadn’t gotten sick, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”

Iovino again stood firmly on the Comcast Center mat Sunday, both feet planted on the ground. For someone who was restricted to a hospital bed less than two years ago, it was quite the perfect landing. letourneau@umdbk.com

we want to win.”

The Terps weren’t much better defensively. Miami’s 80-point night was its first such output against a conference foe this season, and the Hurricanes’ 55 percent shooting more than offset their 17 turnovers.

“No matter what defense we were in, they were making shots and there’s nothing you can do about that,” Bowie said.

“We didn’t get the stops.”

The loss paints a bleak picture for the Terps’ postseason dreams heading into their final regular-season game Saturday. Just weeks ago, the team talked of going undefeated in the final eight games of the conference schedule.

Now, they’ve burst into March with a loss few expected.

“We needed this win,” said Bowie, whose Terp team could slip all the way to the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament with a loss to Virginia this weekend.

“They wanted it more and played harder than we did. I have no explanation. We didn’t play Maryland basketball.” ceckard@umdbk.com

Senior Jenn Iovino has become one of the top contributors for the No. 31 Terps this season. JEREMY KIM/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK

DIVERSIONS

REVIEW | TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT

Just stay home tonight

THOMAS from page 8 before she got here,” Frese said.

“She spent the whole summer with a strength and conditioning coach.

I thought from the minute she stepped foot on campus, she was ready to play, and then, in ACC play, she dominated.”

Thomas quickly established herself as the catalyst for the Terps’ offense, finishing the season as the team’s leading scorer (14.3 points per game) and second only to center Lynetta Kizer — 2009 ACC Rookie of the Year — in rebounding (7.2 per game).

When conference play arrived, so did Thomas. As the Terps entered a trying ACC slate that included tough road trips to No. 9 Duke, No. 10 Miami and No. 14 Florida State, Thomas regularly became the Terps’ go-to force. She proved nothing short of dominant throughout conference play, finish-

ing fifth in the ACC in both scoring and rebounding. Thomas, who earned seven Rookie of the Week honors and was named to the AllACC second team Monday, was the only player besides Boston College’s four-time All-ACC center, Carolyn Swords, to rank in the top five in both categories.

“She showed she’s one of the better players to come through,” Frese said. “Without her, we’d be missing a huge piece.”

What made Thomas’ season most impressive, however, was the amount of pressure placed on her to contribute as a newcomer.

Both Kizer and Coleman earned Rookie of the Year honors on Terp teams rich with established veterans. Thomas, like Langhorne in 2005, was expected to do much more.

“When you talk about having to lead a team to new heights, I think her and Crystal Langhorne have shown that ability,” Frese said. “I would say her and Crystal had to

do the most as a freshman for their team.”

On the court, little indicates Thomas is only in her first year of college. Off the court, though, the Harrisburg, Pa., native is as humble and soft-spoken as one might expect a freshman moving through her first year in the media spotlight to be.

Asked if she was expecting the honor, Thomas brushed the question aside.

“Whatever happens, happens,” she said.

Except for conceding she was “real excited about it,” Thomas declined to comment further, instead deflecting attention to her team, which will start its quest for an ACC Tournament title in Greensboro, N.C., tomorrow.

“I’m more a team-oriented type player,” Thomas explained quietly.

Luckily for Frese and her teammates, that timidity hasn’t translated to the court. cwalsh@umdbk.com

LETTS from page 8

Topher Grace stars as Matt in the abysmal Take Me Home Tonight. Matt is a loser who gets a chance at redemption at a party. PHOTO COURTESY OF MOVIEWEB.COM

BY KYLE LUCAS Staff writer

It is now 2011. It is time to stop making 1980s party movies. Period. There is no new way to approach it. Whatever nostalgia pop culture has had for the decade is finally disappearing, and that’s a good thing.

Take Me Home Tonight, one of those ’80s party movies, was filmed in 2007 and shelved until now. If only it had stayed on the shelf.

Matt Franklin (Topher Grace, Predators) is a recent college graduate who is stumbling through his life and working at a video store in the mall. His twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris, Yogi Bear) is applying to graduate schools, and his best friend Barry (Dan Fogler, Love Happens) works at a car dealership.

Matt had a crush on Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) in high school but never asked her on a date, something he talks about frequently and at length. So when she comes into the video store and asks if he’ll be attending a party thrown by a classmate, he sees this as his chance at redemption. Lucky for us, the film only covers a day in Matt’s life.

Sorry, Take Me Home Tonight, it’s all been done before.

In fact, this is more or less the same plot as the ’80s-based Adventureland if that 2009 movie was not funny, not creative and took place in one day.

But that’s not to say there aren’t some positives in the movie. There are some laughs, but most come from an uncredited cameo role by Demetri Martin.

Grace is likable enough in the lead role, but would it kill the guy to not play his That ’70s Show character at every opportunity?

Fogler does fine as the crazy best friend, but he’s already played the role in 2007’s also-abhorrent Good Luck Chuck.

Faris is an extremely talented comedic actress and is criminally underused here.

She’s not in the movie nearly enough, and her character handles most of the film’s serious material. The thing about Take Me Home Tonight is that it reminds the viewer of a lot of other movies — and that’s just not what a good movie should do.

It’s not a very inspired movie on any level. You’ve seen this movie multiple times a year for the past 30 years. Just put Adventureland on your Netflix queue instead. klucas@umdbk.com

MOVIE: Take Me Home Tonight | VERDICT:

1/2

and, if he can, the one that eluded the Terps as well.

“You work for years to get one chance to compete at the end of the season,” Letts said. “Not getting that opportunity really hurts.

I think that’s what kept me motivated to come back harder the next year.”

Letts had compiled a 19-4 record midway through the 2010 season before seeing it come to an abrupt end. As the Terps were practicing for January’s Wendy’s Dual meets in Ohio, Letts tore the ACL in his right knee, putting his competitive future on hold.

“I was really kind of shellshocked,” Letts said. “It’s one of those things you hear about, but you never think it’s going to happen to you.”

With one year of eligibility remaining, Letts was determined to come back for his senior year with a clean bill of health. As the Parkesburg, Pa., native dedicated his entire offseason to restoring his knee, lifting weights and intense training became a staple of his daily routine.

“I was so determined that I came in here, by myself, just to do anything I could do to get better,” Letts. “But it was difficult.

Sometimes you feel like an outcast because you can’t do ever ything that the other guys were doing. You want to, but you know you can’t because it’ll just hurt your recovery.”

Since he’s returned, however,

Mike Letts, who has gone 26-6 this year, can win his second ACC Championship this weekend. JEREMY KIM/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK

Letts has found little but success.

Letts is ranked No. 15 by Intermat in the 174-pound class, finishing the season with a 26-6 record, including a 15-2 mark in dual matches.

But his value to the team rises above his win-loss record. As a captain and a leader for the Terps, Letts is equally critical to the team’s overall success, coach Kerry McCoy said.

“He leads by example, and it really helps all the guys on the team to have someone you can always count on to get a win,” McCoy said. “Ultimately, to know that we’ve got that kind of success and that kind of character on the team is very important.”

With Saturday’s ACC Championships fast approaching, the Terps will need Letts’ veteran touch. He has already secured one

individual conference title in his career, taking home the 174-pound crown at the 2008 ACC Championships, and McCoy believes he has the ability to improve on those results this season.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he can win the ACCs and win the NCAA Tournament,” McCoy said. “He’s just got to go out there and wrestle one match at a time.”

After spending an entire offseason rehabbing, Letts is more motivated than ever to compete. Just more than a year removed from a career-threatening injury, Letts knows only two victories this weekend will help him all but erase his painful memories of last year’s ACC Tournament.

“I’m very motivated,” Letts said.

“I’m going to win the tournament.” vitale@umdbk.com

8

THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

Sports

More on the Terps from Miami Make sure to check out TerrapinTrail.com for a closer look at the recent fall of Terrapin men’s basketball guard Cliff Tucker, who played just seven minutes last night.

GYMNASTICS

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Iovino lands on her feet After recovering from illness, gymnast thrives

BY CONNOR LETOURNEAU Staff writer

When Jenn Iovino dismounted the balance beam Sunday, she did something that was once routine for the 21-year-old Terrapin gymnast: She stuck her landing.

But as the senior’s feet hit the mat inside Comcast Center, something felt different.

“I just remember feeling an amazing sense of fulfillment,” Iovino said Tuesday.

That fulfillment ran deep for the former top-five recruit. Deeper than the career-best 9.825 score she received. Even deeper than the meet’s result — a dominating Terp sweep of Bridgeport, Temple and William & Mary.

“It was like every up and down I’ve had was leading up to that specific moment,” Iovino said. “That feeling’s what I’ve been working so hard for.”

And for much of the past three and a half years, it seemed as though that feeling would never come for Iovino.

After competing for three years at the International Elite level, reserved for Olympic-caliber talent, the Olney resident decided in her junior year she would attend Alabama.

For the all-around winner at the 2006 Junior Olympic nationals, the four-time national champion Crimson Tide seemed a perfect fit.

“She could’ve gone anywhere she wanted,” said Terp coach Brett Nelligan, who unsuccessfully recruited Iovino as an assistant five years ago. “She was that phenomenally good.”

But a month after arriving in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Iovino’s dream became what she called a “living hell.”

She began feeling weak and lost her appetite. The 4-foot-11 Iovino lost 20 pounds in five months. She grew so exhausted that she needed help walking to the bathroom. She fainted regularly, sometimes as often as four times a week.

But living in the rural South, Iovino couldn’t find a specialist able to provide her with any answers.

She spent eight months desperately searching for a diagnosis, her father flying in almost every weekend to accompany her to various doctor appointments across the state.

Finally, in April 2008, a Birmingham doctor gave Iovino the news that changed her life: She had dysautonomia, an extremely rare disease of the

see IOVINO, page 7

Forward Jordan Williams, No. 20, finished with 11 points on 3-for-17 shooting last night in the Terps’ 80-66 loss to Miami. The defeat dropped the Terps to 7-8 in the ACC with one game remaining Saturday. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADRIANNE D'ANGELO/THE MIAMI HURRICANE

CANEFUL END

Terps’ hopes of at-large NCAA Tournament berth dim after 80-66 loss to Miami

BY CHRIS ECKARD Senior staff writer

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – In front of a half-empty stadium in a mustwin road game, the Terrapin men’s basketball team saved some of its worst for last.

In what might have been their final chance to salvage any hopes

of earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, the Terps flopped, putting together perhaps their least complete effort of the regular season in an 80-66 loss to Miami last night.

Without the energy, shooting touch or defense they needed to keep up with their hosts, the Terps fell in crippling fashion to a

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Staff writer

Before forward Alyssa Thomas had ever joined her team, Terrapin women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese knew she was getting a special talent.

With a rare combination of physical dominance and mental toughness, Thomas started from day one on a top-25 team and only improved. Even as her talents became increasingly apparent to opposing coaches, it seemed only injury could limit

“There was nothing out there that was a fluke about that game,” coach Gary Williams said. “They played better than we did in every area.”

Nothing seemed to go the Terps’ way from the outset.

In the midst of one of the worst

see MIAMI, page 7

Jenn Iovino was a top-five gymnastics recruit coming out of high school before deciding on Alabama. JEREMY KIM/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK

WRESTLING

Thomas wins ACC Rookie of the Year

BY CONOR WALSH

co-member of the ACC’s decidedly mediocre middle pack.

In the dying moments of the game, some Terps (18-12, 7-8 ACC) turned to glance at the BankUnited Center scoreboard, watching the time tick away in an ugly loss that had all but robbed the remaining hope from an already grim season.

A move back to the mat

BY JOSH VITALE Staff writer

At this time last year, Mike Letts was resigned to remain on the sidelines as he watched the Terrapin wrestling team falter unexpectedly in a second-place showing at the ACC Championships.

This weekend, the 174-pound senior will be back on the mat for the Terps, attempting to lead the team to a conference title it came so close to winning last year.

His transformation from cheerleader to contender has hinged on the health of what might be his toughest adversary: his right knee. When he tore his ACL last year, his hopes of a second ACC title that season were damaged with it. But after a lengthy rehabilitation process, Letts resolved to claim the individual title he was unable to last year —

her contributions to the Terps.

Her season-long importance to the No. 13 Terps was recognized by the ACC yesterday, when she garnered the conference’s Rookie of the Year award.

Thomas became the fourth Terp in the past six seasons to win the award, joining such company as Washington Mystics forwards Marissa Coleman and Crystal Langhorne.

“She was college-ready

see THOMAS, page 7

174-pound Mike Letts had his ACC Championship aspirations dashed last year by a devastating right knee injury. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

see LETTS, page 7