March 7, 2013

DIVERSIONS

SIGNS OF IMMATURITY

Terps loss to UNC highlights young team’s shortcomings p. 8

OPINION

Are festivals a waste or a good chance to hear new artists? p. 6

Steny Hoyer writes about the sequester’s impact on education p. 4

The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper

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thursDAY, March 7, 2013

NIH awards univ. grant

Death penalty repeal bill progresses State Senate voted in favor of bill yesterday

Researchers will use $5.9 mil. to study health disparities

By Alex Kirshner Staff writer The state Senate crossed party lines to pass a measure to repeal the death penalty Wednesday morning, moving Gov. Martin O’Malley’s goal to end capital punishment in the state a step closer to reality.

The 27-to-20 vote followed four days of debate in the chamber, during which Senate Republicans tried to filibuster the repeal. However, amendments to keep the death penalty under certain circumstances were voted down. If it passes, Maryland would become the 18th state to abolish capital punishment.

“We are pleased that the Senate has voted to repeal the death penalty in Maryland. We appreciate the thoughtful and respectful debate as members worked together to move the bill forward,” the governor said in a statement from his office yesterday.

“We remain hopeful that we will see a similar outcome in the House. It’s time to end this ineffective and expensive practice and put our efforts behind crime-fighting strategies that work.”

O’Malley announced his hope of abolishing the death penalty in January.

In the past, he has criticized the state’s death penalty as racially biased and expensive, suggesting that sentencing criminals to life in prison without parole is a more effective and appropriate path than executing them. Five inmates have been executed since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1978, but no one has been executed in Maryland since 2005, about two years before O’Malley assumed office. Five state prisoners currently sit on death row.

The bill to repeal capital punishment was not passed on a strictly party-line vote. Senate President Mike Miller (DCalvert and Prince George’s) voted against the measure, along with nine other senators from the majority party.

Meanwhile, two Republicans voted in See penalty, Page 2

By Savannah Doane-Malotte Staff writer

and what the Game Developers Club designed is only a fraction of what members hope to produce.

Every Wednesday at 7 p.m., the club’s 12 members meet in the computer science building to work on their latest projects. Group members pitch games to the club and the ideas are put up for a vote.

That’s how sophomore computer science major Daniel Manzella got the group to bring his vision for a game

Sandra Quinn and Stephen Thomas have seen too many people die prematurely. And most of the deaths had a common link: They were from minority populations.

The university researchers saw black and Latino Americans suffering from hypertension, asthma and other diseases more often than they should have. So rather than accepting the status quo, the duo set out to reduce the health disparities between minorities and Caucasians and improve the state’s health overall.

Quinn and Thomas helped launch the Maryland Center for Health Equity — based out of the public health school — where they serve as its senior associate director and director, respectively. Now, the center has received a $5.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to tackle disparities that leave black Americans at greater risk of dying from cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The five-year grant will enable the center to conduct a complex set of research studies, educate and train researchers and engage the community to collect data and reach out to affected minority populations.

These efforts will address cultural and environmental influences to reduce racial disparities, said Quinn, who is also an associate dean of public health initiatives.

“For the very first time, we are adding issues of racism more exclusively than typically used in health research,” she said. “Health

See gamers, Page 2

See grant, Page 2

THE heart of darkness is one of three games the university’s Game Developers Club has designed. The group also designed the games Heartbeat and Heart Pipes as part of January’s Global Game Jam, which this university hosted for the first time this year. graphic by holly cuozzo/the diamondback, images courtesy of jesse smith

not all fun and games University’s Game Developers Club designed three games — but hopes to offer much more

By Madeleine List Staff writer Imagine you’re an engineer trying to find a fuse box in a pitch-black room. You’re trying as hard as you can to return power after an outage, but all you have to go on are the instructions of a robot.

Sound challenging? You can actually find out yourself — it’s the premise behind The Heart of Darkness, one of several video games designed by students in the uni-

versity’s Game Developers Club.

The group, founded by senior international business major Jesse Smith in September, designed the game and two others, Heartbeat and Heart Pipes, as part of the Global Game Jam in January.

Game designers from the Washington area gathered in Stamp Student Union for the challenge, in which they had 48 hours to design and program three games under the theme “the sound of a heartbeat.”

This is the first year the university was a host site for the challenge,

Committee to open A coast-to-coast cleanup effort form Pick dialogue, address off- UpAlums America, litter campus housing issues clearing initiative

By Teddy Amenabar Staff writer After a semester of frequent meetings between city and university representatives regarding their tense relationships off the campus, the SGA hopes a new ad hoc committee will help give greater voice to student concerns.

A few weeks ago, the Student Government Association formed the City Committee to address and help facilitate discussions about a variety of issues related to living off the campus, including noise violations, safety issues and relationships between students and longtime city residents. As the committee is open to all, it should help funnel widespread concerns to

INDEX

the three student representatives on the College Park Neighborhood Stabilization and Quality of Life Workgroup, which is working to address those neighborhood problems and more by the end of the semester.

“This is our way of figuring out what students want to push,” said Josh Ratner, College Park City Council student liaison and the City Committee’s chairman.

Ratner also serves on the city’s work group, along with SGA President Samantha Zwerling and Greg Waterworth, the SGA’s Greek life representative.

Waterworth, however, was only invited to the work group’s meetings after See committee, Page 3

NEWS 2 OPINION 4 FEATURES 5 DIVERSIONS 6 CLASSIFIED 6 SPORTS 8

By Sarah Sexton Staff writer Rather than settling into office jobs after graduating from the university, two alumni chose to embark on a different route — a three-year trek across the nation picking up more than 100 tons of roadside litter from Washington to San Francisco.

Jeff Chen and David Rogner, who graduated in 2008 and 2009, cofounded a nonprofit called The Harvest Collective, Inc. and began their work to encourage environmental stewardship and zero waste with a coast-to-coast roadside litter pickup initiative they named Pick Up America. The crew arrived in San Francisco in the fall and completed

david rogner and jeff chen, two university alumni, have traveled from Washington to San Francisco picking up litter on roadsides. Rogner described his journey to the Residence Hall Association on Monday. photo courtesy of david rogner their final mile with a triumphant parade, but Rogner’s journey isn’t over, he told the Residence Hall Association Monday night.

“I can tell you right now, I am completely changed as an individual after

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Pick Up America,” Rogner said after a presentation to the group’s Sustainability Committee. “I’m very happy, very much at peace with my life and

For breaking news, alerts and more, follow us on Twitter @thedbk

See rogner, Page 3

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THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | thursDAY, march 7, 2013

grant

The data gathered will then be used to determine how diseases From PAGE 1 such as obesity and diabetes can be prevented. Other research disparities are not simply a matter will address cultural factors that of individuals, but are also a matter affect vaccine disparities among of the environmental and histori- black Americans, fueled by many minority individuals’ distrust of cal context in which we live.”

Recruited from the University medicine, researchers said.

The third study, in partnerof Pittsburgh in 2010, Quinn and Thomas — a university profes- ship with the Joint Center of sor — brought nearly a decade Political and Economic Studies, of health disparity research with will use interviews to determine the effects of the Affordable Care them to launch the center.

Researchers will conduct three Act on black men, who may not main studies to evaluate the mi- understand how to navigate the nority groups. The first will focus health system, researchers said. on developing techniques to in- Since these research tactics will crease physical activity among look at health disparities in a way black women, which they will that directly involves the comcarry out by using social networks munity, researchers hope they will in barber shops and beauty salons. develop more effective solutions to

penalty

a proper punishment.

Attempts to repeal the state’s death penalty are “criminal From PAGE 1 advocate bills” that should not favor of the repeal: Sen. Edward pass, McDonough said.

Reilly (R-Anne Arundel) and “Maryland is one of the Sen. Allan Kittleman (R-Carroll weakest states in the nation and Howard), the minority whip. when it comes to prosecuting For the governor, a legislative murderers,” McDonough said. goal he’s had since taking office “We keep watering down the is now on the brink of passage. punishment standards on death O’Malley has been advocating penalty cases.” to repeal the death penalty at The bill will move next to the least since his first few weeks House of Delegates,where O’Malley in Annapolis. has often enjoyed the backing of a “If the death penalty as strong Democratic majority. applied, my friends, is inherently But state petitioning laws unjust and without the deter- could mean the battle is far rent value [against crime], we from over. are left to ask whether the value If 3 percent of the state’s to society of partial retribution voting electorate signs a petioutweighs the cost of maintain- tion demanding it, the repeal ing the death penalty,” he said a could be sent to a statewide month after taking office in 2007. ballot referendum in the next “Very mindful of and sensitive election, not unlike the referto the closure, and in some cases endum votes on same-sex marthe comforts, that it brings to riage, the DREAM Act and table the unfathomable pain of fami- games last November. lies who have lost loved ones to O’Malley has expressed inviolent crime,” he said, “I believe terest in making the petition it does not.” process more rigorous, but no Executions have shown to be legislative action has been taken ineffective from a cost-analysis yet to make it more difficult to standpoint in Maryland, said force a referendum on a capital Richard Dieter, the Death Penalty punishment repeal.

Information Center’s executive The repeal would require the director, in an interview with The governor, starting in 2015, to set Diamondback last month. aside $500,000 in the state’s The state has spent about budget for a fund devoted to $180 million over the past 35 crime victims in the state. Such a years on death sentences, he provision has nothing to do with said, money that could have capital punishment itself. been put toward other methods But if the provision passes the to discourage crime.

House, it could exempt the bill But many of the bill’s op- from the referendum process, ponents, such as Del. Patrick because bills with explicit fiMcDonough (R-Baltimore and nancial appropriations are not Harford) said capital punish- subject to public petitions. ment provides a necessary deterrent to criminal behavior and newsumdbk@gmail.com

MORE ONLINE

photo courtesy of the university health center

A SAFER SPRING BREAK Students who filed in to the Safer Spring Break Games fair on Tuesday were greeted by T-shirts and water bottles bearing the Hunger Games-themed motto of the day: “May health be ever in your favor.”

Timed just two weeks before students would be heading off on spring break, the second annual fair aimed to promote health and safety resources that could help students avoid making regrettable choices while on vacation.

At the event, 24 campus and local organizations set up booths in the Grand Ballroom of Stamp Student Union, enticing students to their tables with food, games, prizes and information related to public safety, sexual health, STI testing and drug and alcohol abuse.

To read the rest of Marissa Laliberte’s story, check out diamondbackonline.com.

reduce disparities, Thomas said.

“This is not just about health and diseases,” he said. “This research is about the way that different minorities experience life in American society. The only way to grasp that factor is to get out of the ivory tower and go in and engage the community.”

Because of the wide-encompassing social and economic aspects of the study, the research will also involve faculty and staff from the behavioral and social sciences department, the business school and other departments across the campus.

“There is not one discipline that can solve this problem,” Thomas said. “We have to bring the available resources in from the university to laser in on health disparities.”

Gamers From PAGE 1 called Tanks! to life. It’s still in production, but the group hopes to make the game available online.

Players will be able to make customized tanks, choosing from a number of parts, and fight other players online.

Another game the group is pursuing, Blackbeard’s Redemption, will let players guide a pirate through a series of treacherous obstacles to escape a desert island.

For club members, game design provides a break from their day-to-day coursework.

Many of the students are computer science majors, and game design adds a dash of creativity to the programming they’re learning in class.

“I like that it’s at the midpoint between art and science,” Manzella said. “I like being able to put all that together and tell a story.”

The club’s work is driven by its members’ passion for the games, said faculty advisor David Mount.

The students are the ones who come up with the ideas and engineer them to a reality.

Even though the project focuses on black Americans, many other minority groups are greatly impaired by health disparities, Quinn said. For example, the proportion of diagnosed high cholesterol in the country’s young adult Asian population (ages 18 to 44) is 1.3 times higher than in the young adult Caucasian population. Additionally, the rate of new HIV cases for Latino Americans was 3.6 times higher than that of Caucasians in 2009.

“There are many disturbing statistics that display that there are issues with the health care of all minorities,” she said. “AfricanAmerican women are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, but are more likely to die from it.”

And these statistics are pertinent to Prince George’s County,

“My involvement with the club has been very minor, except as a cheerleader,” Mount wrote in an email. “Jesse and the other club members pretty much run the whole show.”

Manzella said he often draws inspiration from the features and options he wishes existing games included. And because the games’ basic frameworks are already in place, the designers can really engage themselves creatively in expanding them.

Just the other night, Manzella was in the shower when inspiration struck him. He said he wants to expand a game called Fire Emblem by allowing characters in the game to lose limbs during fights, but also by including a doctor character who can treat injuries and replace lost arms and legs with bionic body parts.

Derek Chung, a freshman bioengineering major, said that while he’s not a member of the club, he admires the members’ work and enthusiasm.

“I think it’s pretty cool, seeing that technology is really hot right now,” Chung said. “It’s good to start a club that promotes programming.”

The national independent

which is home to the most prosperous black community in the nation, Thomas said. He and other researchers hope the study will pinpoint why black Americans who have the necessary health resources available to them still suffer from health disparities.

Freshman Ariana Castro-Acuna, who is Latina, said these studies are important because they will benefit minority communities at the university.

“If African-Americans and Latinos are the ones that more likely contract diseases, then that means that a percentage of students fit into that category,” the journalism major said.

“This research needs to be done to prevent people in the future from getting sick.”

The center has also worked on projects that work to build trust between minorities and researchers. These also address the issue of minorities not partaking in studies or research because of the history of racism in the health field.

Through holding monthly Collegium of Scholars events, the center also hosts multiple speakers on topics surrounding health equity. As part of the series, an event on March 13 called “Substance Use and Mental Health Disparities among Sexual Minority Youth” will feature guest speaker Michael Marshal, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. newsumdbk@gmail.com

GAME DEVELOPERS CLUB MEMBERS created three video games in January for the Global Game Jam, a 48-hour competition for game developers around the world. photo courtesy of jesse smith game-developing industry is experiencing a boom thanks to the rise of smartphones and mobile gaming, so they’re not alone in their pursuits, Smith said.

Mobile gaming allows people to experience a wide variety of games at a low cost, and as a result, the indie game market is exploding with new phone apps and games. Take Angry Birds, Smith said. That game launched a franchise and turned its parent company, Rovio Entertainment Ltd., formerly a small, independent start-up, into a gaming powerhouse.

Smith added that one of his favorite things about game development is the social impact video games can make. They can be thought-provoking and challenge social norms, creating a unique experience for gamers — the hit game BioShock, for example, addresses the idea of freedom and how far people are willing to go to get it. “[Video games] can promote really deep thinking,” he said.

“They can really get you thinking about society.” newsumdbk@gmail.com

thursday, march 7, 2013 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

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David Rogner (left photo) co-founded Pick Up America, an organization whose members traveled the country for three years in a bus to pick up trash alongside state highways. The university alumnus spoke about his experiences expanding his activism beyond the campus at an RHA committee meeting on Monday night. left photo by charlie deboyace/the diamondback, right photo courtesy of david rogner

rogner From PAGE 1 very encouraged to continue my life as an environmental activist.”

Sree Sinha, the committee’s chairwoman, asked Rogner to share his experiences with the committee to show members how students can continue their activism off the campus.

As an undergraduate, Rogner helped convince university administrators to preserve the Wooded Hillock, a wooded area near Comcast Center that’s home to a rich array of plants and wildlife.

Rogner also worked with Campus Sustainability Coordinator Mark Stewart to develop lesson plans concerning sustainability that reach

committee From PAGE 1 Zwerling pushed for greater student representation. While the three bring a variety of perspectives to the table, Zwerling said it’s still impossible for them to present the entirety of the student body’s views on city issues.

“In the past, SGA has worked with the city a little bit, but it will help bring a focus for the organization in saying this is one of our top priorities,” Zwerling said. “I

the majority of first-year students through UNIV100 and HONR100 classes. Stewart later served on the Pick Up America Board of Directors. “[Rogner] was instrumental in advocating focus on sustainability at this university,” Stewart said.

“He’s got an amazing personality and vision for a better world. He’s a passionate leader and capable of connecting with a wide range of people on a very meaningful level.”

Since graduating, his work has spanned the country,and he doesn’t plan on slowing down. Rogner is helping to organize an “eat-in” early next month at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park to demand mandatory “genetically modified organism” labels on all food sold in the

United States.This summer,Rogner anticipates walking the roads closest to the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and performing service projects in communities along the way.

“I was most intrigued by the personal stories he could share with the group and his experiences with community organizing,” Sinha said. “As vice presidents of sustainability in each individual hall or area council,SCOM members are charged with exactly that — getting fellow students to care about sustainability and organizing events and initiatives around it.”

On the campus, Rogner also served as the Student Government Association’s environmental affairs liaison and cofounded the Student Sustainability Committee,

which continues to play an active role in sustainability efforts on this campus today.

“Nature is what’s most real in the world,” Rogner said. “So I devoted my life to enhancing my personal relationship with nature and helping other people understand there’s a lot of personal healing that can come from a personal relationship with nature.”

Along its journey, the Pick Up America crew gave presentations to more than 10,000 students at universities and schools across the country, organized concerts and community events in towns they visited and created art from waste materials. To fund the trip, Pick Up America relied on sponsorship from the Student Conservation Association, donations from individuals

have to represent students a lot to the city and I want to make sure that I am giving the right kind of feedback and that we are getting everybody’s input.”

Members of the city’s work group have been meeting since December 2012, and its first public forum on Jan.29 saw a strong student turnout.

Having a way to aggregate students’ concerns will help the working group’s student members make the most of that time, Zwerling said.

Waterworth said the university’s social fraternities invited him and Ratner to meet with them Tuesday

night to discuss how city affairs could affect students in the coming months. The fraternities hope the new committee can become a resource for both the Greek life and university communities, he said.

“I’m very, very excited and encouraged that the Greek life community is so excited to work with us,” Zwerling said.

Chapters of the Interfraternity Council have also made strides toward mending relationships with neighbors by adopting streets in and around the city’s Old Town district, Waterworth added.

But fraternities and sororities are not solely responsible for excessive noise, trash and vandalism issues, and all student renters are impacted by the city’s rent stabilization policies. Therefore, the SGA is also working to invite students from outside the organization and Greek life to participate in the committee, Ratner said. The City Committee will hold its first open meeting next Wednesday.

“This isn’t temporary; this isn’t just for this year,” Ratner said.

“This is the beginning of a permanent commitment to working with the city.” newsumdbk@gmail.com

and companies, and fundraising through concerts.

“The events were like potluck performances where we played folk music and broke bread with people,” Rogner said. “Sharing a meal really builds community and helps you to engage with people and share ideas.”

During the day, permanent crew and volunteers who joined for parts of the journey walked along roads picking up and bagging litter. Pick Up America partnered with the local transportation departments to get trucks sent to collect the bags left along the road.

At night, permanent Pick Up America crew members traveled on a large blue and green school bus they named “Due West,” which served as both a home and office.

The interior of the bus was transformed to include a couch,countertop, sink, lockers and six bunk beds.

“It was basically like a traveling dorm room,” Rogner said. “It was everything that you would expect to happen in a dorm room, just crammed into a 35-foot school bus.”

During an average week, the crew spent four days picking up trash on the side of the road, two days completing their individual tasks, such as planning routes or creating videos to post on the Pick Up America website, and one day relaxing.

When the crew began its journey on March 4, 2009, it spent 11 to 12 hours out on roadsides on pickup

days. However, after several weeks of long days on the side of the road, the crew cut back and committed to spending between seven and eight hours outside on pickup days for the rest of the trip.

Pick Up America gave Rogner the opportunity to see more of the natural world he works to protect.

Although he passed through many cities along his path across the nation, Rogner hesitated to choose one as his favorite.

“As you could imagine, cities aren’t really my favorite,” Rogner said. “What I really loved was seeing the Allegheny Mountains and Shenandoah Mountains, and I loved Utah. The sparseness, the red rocks and the wide-open starry skies — it was breathtaking.”

Although Rogner sometimes thinks of the “road more traveled” and a steady office job, he does not regret his decision to pursue environmental activism.

“I told myself, ‘I could find a job and fit into the system, or I could continue the path I’m on and continue encouraging sustainability at this really intense level,’” Rogner said. “It’s just something to reflect on.I don’t want anyone to necessarily follow a path exactly like mine, but find your own path for your own most compassionate thing to do for the earth and compassionate thing to do for other people.” newsumdbk@gmail.com

greek chapters, such as Kappa Sigma, share neighborhoods with city residents. To help improve relations, Greek life members are joining the SGA’s new City Committee. file photo/the diamondback

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Opinion

THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013

EDITORIAL BOARD

YASMEEN ABUTALEB Editor in Chief

Mike King

Managing Editor

Tyler Weyant

Managing Editor

maria romas Opinion Editor

nadav karasov Opinion Editor

CONTACT US 3150 South Campus Dining Hall | College Park, MD 20742 | newsumdbk@gmail.com OR opinionumdbk@gmail.com PHONE (301) 314-8200

GUEST FEATURE

Sequestration demands a better answer STENY HOYER For more than 30 years, I’ve been proud to represent my alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park, and work to help further its mission by promoting quality, affordable education and this university’s world-class research programs.

That’s why I was so disappointed that Congress failed to take meaningful action to prevent the arbitrary, and across-the-board spending cuts imposed by sequestration, which could significantly set back these efforts.

While the impact of the sequester will not be felt immediately, these extreme cuts will begin to put pressure on our economic recovery and national security over the coming

weeks and months. They also slash critical investments in our future, including investments in a highly educated and competitive workforce that ensure our students have the skills required for the jobs that will expand our middle class.

From Head Start to higher education, these irrational budget cuts — cutting the highest and lowest priorities equally — could have a negative impact on education in this state and across the country. In our state alone, the cuts could mean losing about $14.4 million in funding for elementary and secondary education, putting about 200 teacher and aide jobs at risk and threatening our students’ college readiness. Eight hundred fewer children could be enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start, reducing access to the early childhood education that has been shown to be so important in narrowing the achievement gap.

About 770 fewer low-income students could receive financial aid, and about 440 students could lose the work-study opportunities that help them pay for school — including more than 200 undergraduates at this university — making it harder for students to finish their education and receive the training they need to find high-paying jobs. Sequestration will also affect federal grants that support the salaries of approximately 1,500 graduate research assistants and 2,300 research faculty and staff here on the campus.

These harmful cuts to education will not help us build the highly-skilled workforce we need to strengthen our economy and keep America competitive. We need to invest in our students — not reduce funding for K-12 education, cut back on early childhood education that readies young children for school and make it more difficult for

middle-class families and students to afford college or vocational training.

For the past eight weeks, the House has failed to consider a single piece of legislation on the floor to prevent these cuts. Recognizing the dangerous effects they could have on the future of this state’s students and families, I co-sponsored an alternative to sequestration that would have stopped these painful, arbitrary cuts by replacing them with smart, strategic cuts and new revenues. President Obama has also put forward a balanced alternative along these same lines.

Unfortunately, Republicans, who control the agenda in the House, have repeatedly refused to bring an alternative to sequester to the floor and continue to deny the American people an opportunity to see where their representatives stand on this issue. I still believe a majority of representatives in Congress do not want to see these

irrational cuts imposed and would prefer a balanced approach to reduce our deficits.

However, it’s not too late to do the right thing and replace these cuts with a solution that deals with our deficits in a balanced way. Doing so will end the uncertainty many families and students here at this university and across the country are facing.

Over the days and weeks to come, I will continue to call on Congress to pass legislation that will replace the current meat-ax approach to addressing our deficits with a balanced plan that protects important investments that prepare the next generation for success and make our country better.

Steny Hoyer is the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Whip. His office can be reached at 202-225-4131.

Cutting off the D.C. spending spree

Wikipedia with a pulse

highest point in our nation’s history.

Both parties are to blame for the massive debt, which has increased more than $5 trillion in the past five years. Considering our social program obligations (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) and with deficits exceeding a trillion dollars per year, we must change our spending culture.

Of course, today’s government won’t have to pay these bills; the burden is on our generation.

Congress will be the last to change; only the House of Representatives passed a budget on time in the past three years.

Amazing for a body whose members get paid $174,000 (plus benefits) a year. I know if I did not work, I would not get paid, but I guess that’s not a concern if you work in Congress.

Recently, Congress finally decided to reduce spending and increase taxes — or at least try. As part of a compromise, President Obama and Congress created those dreaded sequester cuts with a March 1 deadline as motivation.

As the deadline approached, the House was prepared to make many cuts, but the Senate and the president did not approve of some of the cuts and wanted

Work for your education— and make your professors do the same

MATT DRAGONETTE The U.S. government and its citizens have a very serious addiction: spending money. This addiction endangers society and our generation. That is not to say all spending is bad. We need to eat, be healthy, get an education and improve our standards of living, of course. People work hard for their money, and it is theirs to spend how they see fit. However, too many people rack up large credit card bills for which they pay astronomical interest rates — all because they bought unnecessary things they could not afford.

No one in the country is guiltier in this regard than the federal government.

Congress and the White House have spent well outside the government’s means. Debt isn’t necessarily terrible — the Great Depression, wars and other crises have forced the government to borrow money to allay critical circumstances. And in vulnerable situations, the government can provide a security net for the less fortunate.

But the ratio of debt to GDP is at the

higher taxes. As a result, this country — and this university will feel the pain of sequestration.

Here’s the worst part: The $85 billion in cuts is roughly 7 percent of the budget deficit. With spending increases every year, sequestration won’t accomplish much.

We have to cut spending dramatically, and we have to shore up our social obligations — as they stand, Social Security and Medicare can and will go bankrupt. With entitlement reform, sensible spending cuts and a simplified, loophole-free tax code, we can come closer to balancing the budget. To start, cuts could include foreign aid, wasteful government programs and projects, subsidies and a 5 percent across-the-board spending decreases.

We must find a way to control spending to maintain both a safety net for the needy and an economy unburdened by oppressive debt. Because as of now, our parents and grandparents essentially had a huge party and left our generation with the bill.

Matt Dragonette is a sophomore accounting major. He can be reached at mdragonette9@yahoo.com.

EDITORIAL CARTOON

JOEY LOCKWOOD/the diamondback

ERIK SHELL The setting: A small- to medium-sized brick enclosure, filled with flimsy wooden structures.

With very little effort and a few hours, it could be turned into a generic storage room. Numerous people are inside, but there is a single noise that drones on uninterrupted, then shuts off.

Sound familiar? It’s a classroom, though not as it should be. While that description of a professor’s lecturing is a little harsh, what else do you call a constant noise, hovering around the same pitch, that is never curtailed?

That droning is, in case you forgot, coming from a person who likely spent more sleepless nights than we can imagine, all to write a veritable book on a subject very few of us will ever encounter in the modern world. He or she is a treasure trove of helpful and career-aiding advice who goes largely untapped by many people.

But what even more people forget is this: They can be wrong.

Most teachers refuse to allow Wikipedia as a primary source.

While I support the online encyclopedia as a great place to find relevant sources, it is by no means a standalone research tool. It was edited by countless people we’ll never see and, despite fact checkers, has countless minor errors.

B u t , p ro fe s s o rs ’ a re o f te n similar. They were educated by countless people we’ll never see and, despite impressive degrees and accomplishments, assuredly subscribe to some minor bits of misinformation or half-truths.

Now, as a caveat, these discrepancies originate mostly in fields without many objectively true facts to begin with. If you haven’t noticed already, the more you learn about any subject, the less stable the foundation of facts becomes.

Yet this is not reflected in classrooms. Students allow their professors to speak for hours on end without challenging a thing. They see their education as an input-only relationship: Professor says fact, I input fact and life gives me a job. It happens every day and is a languid way to approach education.

Professors aren’t off the hook either. Who could possibly doubt the reality of diminishing returns in a room of 250 people? Who could possibly want to know more about my dissertation in a 300-level class?

Why should I veer from the syllabus to discuss an interesting find on underground trade relations in 19th-century feminist Vienna? Well, I’d better not talk about it. No one will care.

What results is a game of academic chicken. The students don’t want to ask a supposedly dumb question, and the professor, thinking students aren’t terribly interested, will skip over the more interesting parts of their work.

The solution? Both sides need to make each other work. Students, keep your professors on their toes.

Ask questions: “But why did JFK not push the button?” Professors, seeing engagement after years of varied amounts of disinterest, are itching for the opportunity to explain why and why not — and the scholarly debate over the two. They know this stuff; they’re just waiting for an excuse to share.

There is an obvious boundary line here. No one likes that guy who excessively asks questions already answered and eats up class time. But still, this is your education. You pay to sit in those flimsy wooden structures and to bother professors during their office hours. I suggest you begin working for what you paid for. Your brain, resume and future career will thank you.

E r i k S h e l l i s a so p h o m o re classical languages and literatures and history major. He can be reached at erik1434@gmail.com.

Squirrels: Learning from our notorious neighbors MATT RICE Everybody on the campus knows about the squirrels. We’ve all witnessed them dart within inches of our feet as we traverse McKeldin Mall or look at us unfazed as we approach them on a sidewalk. These creatures busy themselves with all sorts of endeavors, from digging holes for nuts to chasing each other around trees. The weirdest squirrels live in the trash bins. I’ve seen a squirrel jump out like a ninja when I threw in some trash, and on another occasion, I beheld the terrifying sight of a trash bag dancing, which perplexed me until a

mischievous squirrel’s head popped out.

The squirrels are insane, yet I doubt many of us have taken the time to watch the squirrels for any appreciable amount of time. Our little neighbors are actually quite fascinating. I encourage you to watch as they busy themselves with collecting food, burying it, eating it and chasing each other around.

Often we busy ourselves in just the same way. We go to the dining halls, collect food and bury scraps in our mini fridges. Sometimes we remember to retrieve this bounty and sometimes we don’t. Like a squirrel’s acorn, our buffalo chicken wrap grows — the acorn into a tree, the wrap moldy. Hopefully, however, we collect more than food during our time here. We go to class

to collect knowledge; use some right away, store some for later, forget some and remember some. Hopefully, like a tree or a moldy wrap, our intelligence continues to grow.

We can all learn something about dedication from our furry friends who give their full attention to the task at hand.

Yet if we’re not careful, we can let life turn into a repetitive routine that leaves us trying just to get through each day, week, month and semester, collecting enough to survive, but forgetting to do much else.

Once I saw a squirrel completely sprawled out on the ground — it was weird. It looked like it was either doing yoga or like it passed out on the way back to its nest after a Friday night on Route 1. Too often this can be the extent

of our week: work hard from Monday to Friday, de-stress, hibernate over the weekend and repeat.

Whenever I get stuck in that kind of rut, I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau. Like him, I hope I won’t come to die and “discover that I had not lived.”

Alas, I don’t really have the option of hanging out in the woods for a year. Is it still possible to “live deliberately” while fulfilling the responsibilities of a college student?

Yes, but it takes dedication to paying attention. It can start with paying attention to squirrels, but our campus has more to offer than that. With so many birds singing every morning, it’s really a shame people miss them while their earbuds are in.

The principle of paying attention is more important in our relationships than in noticing nature. So often, when one of my friends lists the litany of homework and exams ahead, I can hear, but not really listen. We should strive to devote ourselves to actually paying attention to each other.

When we do, our compassion will grow — our friends’ joys will be our joys and their sorrows will be our sorrows. It can be difficult at times, but so is the squirrel’s job of collecting nuts. Living more deliberately and having compassion for one another is more rewarding than that.

Matt Rice is a sophomore engineering and materials sciences major. He can be reached at matthew.rice.d@gmail.com.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 | THE DIAMONDBACK

5

Features ACROSS 1 DEA operative 5 The mind’s I? 9 Skydive 13 “Carmen,” e.g.

15 Ship of myth 16 Chocolate cookie 17 Up and about 18 Wedding-cake part 19 Garden green 20 Half a bray 21 Camembert cousin 23 Grommet 25 -- de force 26 Meager 27 Spend like crazy 30 Boathouse item 31 Slaves away 32 Retreat (2 wds.)

37 Mendicant’s cry 38 Roll with the punches 40 Bryce Canyon state 41 Inherently (2 wds.)

43 Prince Arn’s mother 44 Mont. neighbor 45 Elegant coiffure 47 Pledge 50 Nevada’s Comstock - 51 Most prudent

52 De Gaulle’s topper 53 “Verse” lead-in 56 Coup d’- 57 Sharif of film 59 Chute material 61 Lap dog, slangily 62 Prioritize 63 Turf warriors 64 Autocrat 65 The Y in YSL 66 Pole on a ship

CROSSWORD

35 Roman historian 36 Genghis - 38 Hearing-related 39 “Heck!”

42 Burton and McGraw

43 Facilitating 45 Works in a store 46 Spring 47 Issues a summons 48 Port near Kyoto

49 Parking - 51 Showed distress 52 Batman creator 53 Bone below the elbow

54 Seasonal libations 55 Technical sch.

58 Dallas cager 60 Candied goody

DOWN 1 Beery or Webster 2 Nave neighbor 3 Solar plexus 4 Dernier - 5 Literary genre 6 A Great Lake 7 Bigger than med.

8 Anterior 9 Wild card 10 Eurasian range 11 Skirmish 12 Bard or minstrel 14 Leafy recesses 22 Toupee, slangily 24 Sweater makings 25 City in Oklahoma 26 Broth 27 Iffy attempt 28 Many, in combos 29 Sketch 32 -- kwon do 33 Protrude 34 Nefertiti’s god

© 2013 United Features Syndicate

PREVIOUS DAY’s puzzle solved:

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B

HOROSCOPE STELLA WILDER

orn today, you tend to speak your mind more openly and freely than most born under your sign, and what you gain by doing so is likely to outweigh any hardship you encounter as a result.

True, there will always be those who do not understand or appreciate your particular brand of candor, but you must behave in a way that is natural for you, regardless of the reactions you get from others.

Though you are sure to attract more than your share of critics, your friends are likely to be so loyal to you that you can prevail even when you are vastly outnumbered.

The fact that you speak from the heart is likely to earn you a great premium where love is concerned -- for who does not like to feel as though they are privy to someone’s secrets?

What you must guard against, of course, is manipulation; you must never use candor to gain undue advantage over another.

Also born on this date are: Michael Eisner, film executive; Luther Burbank, botanist; Maurice Ravel, composer; Piet Mondriaan, painter.

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.

FRIDAY, MARCH 8 PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -You may not be responsible for as much as usual today, as someone else is likely to jump in and take some of the load.

COLLEGE INTUITION RICHIE BATES ROGER DOES COLLEGE

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- The devil is in the details, they say, and you’ll know just what they mean as you tackle the little things that make all the difference.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -Now is no time to insist on having things your way; compromise is the only way to achieve even just a portion of what you want.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -No news is good news -- at least for a portion of the day. After dark, you’ll want to keep your ear to the ground and get all the scoop.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -What goes on behind the scenes today is likely to impact you more directly than anything that happens out in the open.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You may not be able to force the issue today, but if you lay back and let others do the work for you, it can be resolved very much to your liking.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You know what is likely to be asked of you today -- but take care you don’t jump the gun in any

way. Wait until you are asked!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -Now is the time for you to make peace with someone who may have wronged you long ago. Make an effort to excuse, forgive and forget.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -You’re in the mood for something more mellow than usual today -- though your own instinct for being “in the fray” may conflict with this.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- You may be afforded a rare glimpse today at the inner workings of something that is usually kept very much under wraps.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You and a teammate may have to work from positions that others might consider disadvantageous.

Indeed, you may be quite far apart.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- You’re showing signs of being rather worn down by an issue that refuses to be resolved. Perhaps it’s time for you to let it go!

COPYRIGHT 2013 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.

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su | do | ku © Puzzles by Pappocom

Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3x3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9.

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HARD

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THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, march 7, 2013

Diversions

ON THE SITE

THROUGH GOOGLE-COLORED GLASSES

Google has finally unveiled Google Glass, the high-tech, Internet-linked glasses that might replace texting as the top reason why people walk into trash cans every day. To read staff writer Kelsey Hughes’ take on the invention, visit diamondbackonline.com.

FACEOFF | MUSIC FESTIVALS

it’s (NOT) always a good time Festivals introduce music fans to new groups while offering bands the opportunity to reunite

By Kelsey Hughes Staff writer In 2012, Coachella reincarnated Tupac. Tupac.

In all his pixelated glory. You don’t need another reason to like festivals.

But if you really needed another reason, here’s five: 1. Festivals are generally great opportunities for broken-up bands to reunite and play, maybe just for one last hurrah. Take Coachella. In 2003, Iggy Pop and the Stooges reunited there; in 2004, the Pixies; and in 2010, Pavement, just to name a few.

2. The existence of these festivals can bring bands that are still together but don’t otherwise tour to the area. Many bands hop the festival circuit, using the highly populated all-day concerts as a way to tone down their tour while still reaching major cities and big crowds. It would be preferable for the bands to hit numerous venues across the country, but years of heavy traveling can take its toll. Musicians could randomly play a club or two a year in front of 100 people, or they could play big-name festivals and reach thousands. Modest Mouse is a band that has taken to only playing big shows, this year playing as one of the Coachella headliners.

3. As a festival-goer, you can learn about tons of bands you might not have heard of before. Granted, you won’t like most of them, but there’s the potential for you to find a rare gem among the washed-up scene bands and cute pop that make up some of the lesserknown supporting acts at most events.

4. Festivals are fun. There’s something about the atmosphere associated with them — huge crowds of passionate music fans dancing to some of their favorite music for hours that turn into days. Even when you don’t know the band, the feeling can be infectious.

5. Lastly, festivals are not all absurdly expensive. Certainly, many of the bigger ones cost $300 or more, but there are affordable options on the East Coast. There’s fall’s Virgin Mobile Freefest ($0), summer’s Vans Warped Tour ($32.50) or even spring’s Bamboozle, which gives attendees the option of one-day passes at $65, a relative bargain compared with other festivals that only offer three-day passes for $300 or more. Sure, lineup quality suffers somewhat (see Warped Tour’s slowly devolving lineup), but the music lovers’ freefor-all atmosphere is still the same and the opportunities for a good time are still plentiful.

It can be hard to feel excited about music festivals when the cost of attendance or even travel somehow surpasses the cost of the books you bought for the last two semesters, but that doesn’t mean festivals should be discounted altogether. The amount of fun a concert-goer has is directly proportional to how much fun he or she plans to have while there, so don’t focus on the negatives. Find a doable festival and make the most of it. diversionsdbk@gmail.com

Festivals don’t bring anything new to the table except rising ticket costs and a good story

By Emily Thompson Staff writer There was a time in my life, not so long ago, when I would have given anything to be able to attend a major summer music festival.

My heart would always sink when I’d see the lineup for Lollapalooza or Coachella, and quickly realize that as much as I wanted to go, there was no way I could make it out to Chicago, much less Indio, Calif.

A s I got older, these lof ty d rea ms of traveling around America to see a festival became more of a reality. A few festivals have popped up on the East Coast, such as Governors Ball and Firefly, and the possibility of traveling to Tennessee doesn’t seem as absurd as it once did.

B ut do I re a l ly wa nt to go a ny more?

Not especially.

We are still living in the age of the music festival, but the concept is now worn out.

The same headliners keep popping up, when they were only worth traveling for a couple years ago. Take the Coachella lineup this year. At the top of the bill are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Passion Pit, Phoenix and Pretty Lights. W hen I first saw the announcement back in February, I said to myself: “Is this deja vu?”

I ca n u ndersta nd why a fest iva l l i ke

<<

· · ·

April 12-14 and April 19-21 Sold out except for special package passes Indio, Calif.

For those who brave the Low Desert’s temperatures, Coachella offers one of this year’s most extensive lineups. The Stone Roses, Blur, Phoenix and the Red Hot Chili Peppers headline the festival.

· · ·

photos courtesy of flickr.com and jon elbaz

· · ·

July 19-21 $120 for a three-day pass Chicago The notoriously snobbish music publication knows how to pick a lineup. Björk, Belle and Sebastian and R. Kelly star in this year’s concert slate.

At the nation’s biggest backyard party, elder statesmen Paul McCartney, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Wu-Tang Clan rub shoulders with up-and-comers Mumford & Sons, Japandroids and Kendrick Lamar.

June 13-16 $295.80 (including service fees) Manchester, Tenn.

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Pitchfork Music Festival

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival >>

Bonnaroo

Coachella would be fine with putting out a lineup that feels copied and pasted from a past year. It seems no matter which bands play, people will attend the festival. Maybe it’s for the experience. Maybe it’s for the tradition. The public seems frustratingly content, which might allow festival-bookers to be more comfortable (read: lazy) in staying with the same bands when planning next year’s festivals.

T h is bri ngs up a nother question: Do festival-goers really care about the music at all? If they did, they wouldn’t be satisfied with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the front of this year’s bill or hearing “Sleepyhead,” “1901,” and half-baked dubstep.

T he p e ople who a re p u rch a si n g t he se extremely expensive tickets seem to be bigger fans of experience than music. If they were truly paying for the bands, they’d be more willing to spend $10 to $20 when the smaller and debatably more interesting bands come through their cities on tour.

Festivals used to be yearly events I’d dream about. Now that I am old enough and able to attend them if I wanted to, I have grown less than interested. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon — I’d take a tiny house show over an over-the-top music festival any day.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers headline the East Coast’s newest music festival. And if aging rock icons aren’t your thing, Firefly offers a selection of the hottest electronic and indie artists.

Firefly Music Festival · · ·

June 21-23 $258 for a three-day pass for more festival info, Dover, Del. check out diamondbackonline.com

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EVEN 2 THURSDAY, March 7, 2013 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

THE DIAMONDBACK THE DIAMONDBACK | XXXDAY, | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER AUGUST XX, 31, 20127

HEELS

COACHING From PAGE 8

From PAGE 8

the Terps’ big men much of the night, leaving plenty of open looks around the perimeter.

But the Terps were unable to capitalize. Their top three deep threats — guards Logan Aronhalt and Seth Allen and forward Jake Layman — shot a combined 0-of-11 from behind the arc. The Terps have now shot below 20 percent on 3-pointers in five games this season, and 17.9 percent over their past three.

“I feel like guys had open shots,” guard Nick Faust said. “They just didn’t make them.”

North Carolina, meanwhile, had little trouble making the most of its opportunities. The Tar Heels shot 41.7 percent from three-point range and hit 19-of-24 free-throw attempts.

Turgeon said the Terps simply allowed their offense to affect their defense, and that’s a costly foible when playing a squad that now boasts a six-game winning streak.

The Terps’ immaturity started to show after a Faust runner secured a 27-24 lead with 3:24 remaining in the first half. They started sagging on defense, giving North Carolina enough open looks to enter halftime on a 10-0 run.

And once again, the Terps (20-10, 8-9 ACC) failed to find a defensive remedy while staring down a deficit over the break. The Tar Heels (22-8, 12-5) attacked the rim with ease early in the second half, and opened the frame on a 10-4 rally. The Terps were down 44-31 when Turgeon called a timeout with 15:21 remaining.

But the second-year coach’s message seemed to fall flat on everyone other

NOTEBOOK From PAGE 8 preparation for a conference game later in the season.

The No. 1 Terps have two more conference games remaining and the Retrievers have five league matches scheduled before the end of April.

If the Terps and UMBC fail to reschedule, it will be the first season in which the two teams have not played each other since 1982. Tillman said the Terps value the in-state rivalry, but preparing for conference play takes precedence.

“UMBC has a conference where there’s an automatic qualifier and only four teams make it [to the conference tournament]. Do you want to play midweek before that?” Tillman asked Tuesday, speaking hypothetically as the game had not been postponed at that point. “I’ll certainly talk with coach Zim and try to make it work.”

For this year’s Terps, though, the can-

than Dez Wells. The forward did his best to spark an extended comeback, scoring 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half.

Yet the Tar Heels seemed to have an answer for every basket. After the Terps managed a 7-0 spurt with about six minutes left, North Carolina netted six straight points to squelch the rally and build a double-digit lead. The Terps continued to miss open 3-pointers and didn’t get within nine points the rest of the game. Fans started filing for the exits when Tar Heels guard

Dexter Strickland stepped to the free throw line with 1:30 remaining.

“We’ve been playing behind all year, so that’s nothing new to us,” Wells said.

“We cut it to six and we had a chance to really get a good possession defensively, and we didn’t get the stops that we needed. That really hurt us a lot.”

It’s a familiar story for the youthful Terps. Last night’s defeat gave them a 1-7 record when trailing at the half, and moved Turgeon’s squad even further off the NCAA tournament bubble. If it wasn’t already the case entering last

night, the Terps likely must win the ACC Tournament to secure a March Madness berth.

They now have one regular-season chance — a road matchup at Virginia on Sunday — to mature. Will they learn how to overcome adversity and string together a solid second half?

Turgeon’s not sure. But that’ll hardly keep him from trying.

“We’ve just got to keep coaching them,” he said. “That’s all we can do.”

cellation deprives them of a chance at redemption. Tillman and his staff constantly reminded their players this week of the program’s recent struggles against the Retrievers, including last season’s 8-7 loss in which the Terps blew a threegoal lead in the fourth quarter.

“That is something the coaching staff is aware of,” Tillman said Tuesday.

“We give credit to [UMBC]. They’ve had the upper hand, so that’s something we focused on.”

UMBC was planning on coming into College Park yesterday to face a Terps team they’ve had surprising success against in recent years.

But when Stony Brook comes to town on Sunday, the story line won’t seem so dramatic. The top-ranked Terps will have to prove their worth against an unranked team they don’t have a significant history with in a game that won’t be televised.

The Terps, though, claim they aren’t taking any opponent lightly.

“In this day in lacrosse, every team is a challenge,” goalkeeper Niko Amato said Saturday. “Anybody can beat anybody, and we know that.”

one-man job, though. Tillman said Murray effectively mirrored the Blue Devils’ star, but each member of the defense banded together to keep the attackman from scoring. Murray’s teammates communicated effectively on screens and even cut Wolf off when he got by Murray.

Stony Brook is similar to Duke in that it has a clear-cut top option on the offensive end. Midfielder Jeff Tundo leads the Seawolves in both goals (15) and assists (11), and was named to the All-America East team last season.

Murray will likely take on the assignment of guarding Tundo. But just as they did against Duke, his teammates will need to aid him in containing the opponent’s best player.

“It’s really never about one-on-one matchups,” Tillman said. “Goran did a really good job of playing Jordan and also realizing that it’s a team defense first.

And his teammates did a really good job of supporting and helping him.”

think and be mental about it. Then, when we do practice, we go hard.”

With less time to practice, the Terps have placed a renewed emphasis on film study. So when they do practice, they know exactly where they need to be and can get things right the first time.

In trying to keep her team fresh mentally in addition to physically, Frese re-examined past film sessions to figure out how to maximize the Terps’ efficiency there, too. The result was 30-minute film sessions — the length of a standard television program — that were long enough to communicate everything the team needed to see while also keeping the players’ and coaches’ attention.

Frese divides tasks into smaller chunks. The Terps might combine to spend a great deal of time on one thing, but it’s never in one long sitting, Frese said. When they do something, she wants it to be with intense focus.

“We all know that when we’re on the court, we can’t be BSing around,” Howard said. “We have to be serious and know what’s going on, so we definitely all pay attention to the film and pay attention to what the coaches are saying.”

The genesis of the Terps’ success in this practice structure started in the summer with the team’s conditioning program. Frese doesn’t have to worry about players needing to lose weight or gain muscle at this point in the season. They’re all in shape, so time doesn’t have to be sacrificed to correct things that could have been taken care of over the summer.

“We talk about laying a foundation, and this summer was the foundation for our conditioning,” Langley said. “So many players spent the entire summer here, and they don’t have to do that. … I do believe that’s helped us have to play a lot of extra minutes, have to play in a physical league night in and night out and helped us maintain our finishing.”

In a season when the Terps could have let their injuries define their course or succumb to the workload they face for every game, they’ve emerged. Through the coaching staff’s adjustment to the injury toll and the players’ offseason work, the Terps are poised for a postseason run that didn’t seem possible at times this season.

“In preseason, they stress, ‘Push the wall back, push the wall back,’” Hawkins said. “So I think now when we’re playing more minutes than we’re used to, we can say, ‘Oh, we can push the wall back because we’ve seen this scenario before in preseason.’”

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Forward Dez Wells tried to keep the Terps in the game with his 18 points, but it wasn’t enough in a 79-68 loss to the Tar Heels last night. charlie deboyace/the diamondback

MARQUEE MATCHUPS If yesterday’s game hadn’t been postponed, the Terps would have played in three straight nationally televised contests. Each game’s storylines were worthy of the recognition, too.

On Feb. 23, the Terps won at thenNo. 1 Loyola, 12-10, to avenge their loss in last year’s national championship game. On Saturday, the Terps earned a 16-7 victory at then-No. 19 Duke in the seventh meeting between the ACC rivals over the past three seasons. And

TEAM DEFENSE Terps defender Goran Murray kept Duke’s All-American attackman Jordan Wolf from finding the back of the net on Saturday for the first time all season, earning ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process.

Slowing down Wolf wasn’t a

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NELLIGAN From PAGE 8 rack and fell asleep.

Another time, as his father waited for his team’s results at regionals in Florida, Nelligan snuck away from the squad. He climbed the beam, jumped off and stuck the landing to the delight of the 9,000 fans in attendance.

“He was part of the program from the very beginning,” Bob Nelligan said.

“He didn’t really have a choice.”

Brett Nelligan, who broke his collarbone playing football in the yard as a kid, developed an early passion for competitive gymnastics. Nelligan was small, his father said, so gymnastics “fit his profile.”

But Nelligan’s dad wasn’t the only family member involved in the sport.

His mother, Christine, coached eventual Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes as a child at Hills Gymnastics.

And his uncle, Peter Kormann, became the first American to win an Olympic medal in 44 years when he won bronze at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.

Kormann would later coach the men’s gymnastics team at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to the 1996 NCAA Championship. “[Gymnastics] was just what my family did,” Nelligan said. “When I was growing up, my uncle was my idol.”

Nelligan had dreams of one day following his uncle to the Olympics, but nagging injuries ultimately cut his competitive career short. He fractured his back in high school, dislocated his shoulder as a college sophomore and had wrist surgery a year later.

But he still managed to enjoy a decorated collegiate career at Massachusetts. Nelligan led the Minutemen to

Coach Brett Nelligan is aggressive with social media use. The Terps gymnastics team’s Twitter account has more than 900 followers. photo courtesy of maryland athletics three straight top-13 finishes before the team was cut, and placed in the top 10 on vault at the NCAA Championships.

After graduating from UMass, Nelligan returned home to College Park to get a master’s degree in business administration. He joined the Terps coaching staff in 2004 as a graduate assistant, never intending for the experience to develop into anything more.

But Nelligan couldn’t just walk away from the program he grew up around.

So when his father offered him the head coaching job, Nelligan had little choice. “[Coaching] is in my blood,” Nelligan said. “I should have known it all along.”

Bob Nelligan believes his son’s business acumen has been vital to the Terps’ recent success. While the elder Nelligan focused on scraping enough money to-

gether to buy leotards, Brett Nelligan has concentrated on building the Terps’ brand. He negotiated with the school’s basketball coaches to use the main floor for home meets, helping attendance double since he took the helm.

Nelligan has also been aggressive with social media. He created “Gym TerpsTV” — a weekly online segment featuring members of the team — and he runs the squad’s Twitter. As of last night, the account had 911 followers, which outnumbers the women’s basketball team’s Twitter.

“I wanted to take the base that my father built and improve in every aspect,” Nelligan said. “It’s starting to pay off. … We’ve had greater interest from recruits, higher-ranked recruits.”

Junior Katy Dodds, one of Nel-

ligan’s first commitments, helped make the Terps a top-flight recruiting program. Though she boasted an offer from gymnastics dynasty Auburn, the Gaithersburg native wanted to be a part of the Terps’ family-like atmosphere.

“There’s been big points in my life when I needed someone to talk to,” Dodds said. “[Nelligan’s] always been there for me.”

Just a year after Dodds committed, Giameo — who placed ninth in all-around at the 2011 Level 10 nationals — joined the fold. Another elite recruit, Kathy Tang, was on pace to contend for National Rookie of the Year before she injured her ankle in February. The freshman won East Atlantic Gymnastics League Rookie of the Week multiple times and even took home conference Gymnast of

the Week honors once.

Before Nelligan took over, prospects like Tang, Giameo or Dodds probably wouldn’t have considered the Terps, much less joined the program.

“When he got there, he had a business perspective,” Bob Nelligan said. “He does a great job selling the program to them.”

With Dodds and Giameo leading the way, the Terps are off to one of the best starts in program history. Nelligan’s squad leads the EAGL with just three meets remaining — quite a feat for a program that finished the regular season in first place for the first time two years ago.

And while the Terps have yet to win a conference championship, this year’s team certainly has a shot. The squad posted a 196.175 in a Feb. 17 tri-meet, the program’s highest score since earning a 197.375 on March 6, 2004.

Other teams have noticed what Nelligan has been able to accomplish since taking over the Terps in 2009. A few years ago, a couple of perennial top-5 programs approached Nelligan with the hopes of bringing him aboard. They offered an easy route to success, a spot on a coaching staff already enjoying national prowess.

But Nelligan didn’t get into coaching to line his mantelpiece with awards and trophies. He took over his father’s job because he loves the Terps. He’s been with the program from the very beginning, and is determined to be at the forefront of its continued rise.

“I really think we are building something great here,” Nelligan said. “We got good kids coming in, the athletic department is really getting behind us.

I think we can do some great things, and I want to be a part of it.” sportsdbk@gmail.com

STATLINE Terps men’s basketball forward Dez Wells’ performance in a 79-68 loss to North Carolina

18 6 3 Points

Rebounds

Steals

Sports

“Colorado would be ashamed of this snow day in dc”

TWEET OF THE DAY Taylor Kemp @Tkemp02 Former Terps men’s soccer defender

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THURSDAY, March 7, 2013

MEN’S LACROSSE NOTEBOOK

Game vs.

Retrievers postponed

TERRAPINS 68

79 TAR HEELS

More of the Same

Usual problems haunt Terps in Senior Night loss to North Carolina

Schedule gets easier; Terps playing team D

By Connor Letourneau Senior staff writer

By Aaron Kasinitz Staff writer

Immaturity has plagued the Terrapins men’s basketball team all season. Players have been suspended, ill-advised shots have been taken and turnovers have mounted.

Even when the Terps face must-win scenarios, coach Mark Turgeon’s young bunch — a group that leans on underclassmen for about 80 percent of its scoring — has struggled to make prudent decisions with the game on the line. It’s why chronic inconsistency has become the season’s defining characteristic.

It’s why the Terps haven’t been able to win more than two consecutive ACC games.

Last night, Turgeon said, that immaturity was on full display. The Terps’ defense failed to make up for a paltry showing beyond the arc, forcing them to grapple with the ramifications of a 79-68 loss to North Carolina on Senior Night.

“It’s disappointing. It’s really disappointing,” Turgeon said moments after his team dipped below .500 in ACC play with just one regular-season game remaining. “I wanted to be better tonight, and we weren’t.”

The box score tells much of the story. While the Terps shot 60 percent on 2-pointers, a 3-of-23 night from three-point range ultimately doomed them against one of the nation’s hottest squads. The Tar Heels double-teamed

John Tillman was excited for his Terrapins men’s lacrosse team to play UMBC yesterday.

The third-year coach knew the contest with the Retrievers was scheduled to air nationally as the debut of ESPNU’s Wednesday Men’s Lacrosse Game of the Week, and he knew his Terps were riding a wave of momentum following an undefeated threegame road trip. He was antsy to get on the field and play a team that had beaten the Terps in four of their past six meetings.

But yesterday’s storm that was supposed to dump several inches of snow on the field at Byrd Stadium, which never came, kept Tillman from getting his wish. The athletic department decided before 10 a.m. yesterday to postpone the game indefinitely.

A makeup date has not been announced and there is a possibility the contest will be canceled outright.

Neither Tillman nor UMBC coach Don Zimmerman wants a rescheduled matchup to interfere with a week of See NOTEBOOK, Page 7

See HEELS, Page 7

Forward Charles Mitchell and the Terps demonstrated their immaturity in a 79-68 loss to North Carolina on Senior Night. charlie deboyace/the diamondback

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

GYMNASTICS

For Nelligan, a family business Terps have become his team after taking over for his father nearly four years ago

photo illustration by charlie deboyace/the diamondback

CHANGING THEIR PHILOSOPHY Rash of injuries creates unique coaching challenge for Frese

By Daniel Gallen Senior staff writer When the Terrapins women’s basketball team takes the court at Comcast Center for a late-season practice, it knows its time is limited — literally.

Instead of grinding through more than two-hour practices like they have in the past, the Terps practice for 75 minutes. And not a minute more.

This Terps team, beset by injuries all season, has presented a unique challenge for coach Brenda Frese and her assistants.

With just eight healthy players — and only seven during a brief stretch — for much of the season, the staff knew things had to change when it came to the No. 10 Terps’ practice regimen.

The most logical adjustment came with shortened practices. After losing center Essence Townsend and guards Brene Moseley and Laurin Mincy to torn ACLs, the Terps didn’t have

enough bodies to form two full squads, even after former Terps volleyball player Caitlin Adams joined the squad in January.

So to keep players who were playing more than 28 minutes per game — the team has four of them — sharp for contests, Frese modified the length and structure of her practices.

“It was uncharted territory for us,” Frese said. “I think the one thing we found with the limited practice time is now our players are fresh. They have legs.”

Despite putting together a practice squad made up of university students with basketball backgrounds to simulate in-game situations, the Terps run the court less in practice, forward Tianna Hawkins said. Instead, most of the work happens in the half court, focusing on the minute details of the offense or defense.

In past practices, Frese would try to

work every single facet of a game plan into practices that would range anywhere from 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours and 15 minutes. Now, she knows she can focus on one thing, like manto-man defense, in one practice and save zone defense for another practice.

“I think Coach Frese talks to us a lot about being concise,” associate head coach Tina Langley said. “When we get it, move on.”

And now some of the Terps’ most valuable practice time doesn’t even happen on the hardwood. It happens in the film room.

“We have a lot of days where other teams could be practicing, but instead we’re watching film,” center Malina Howard said. “It still is like practice, but a mental practice. … Instead of putting us on the court the whole time with such little numbers, they made us See COACHING, Page 7

Coach Brett Nelligan, who took over the Terps gymnastics program in 2009, grew up with the team. His father, Bob, coached the team for 31 years before retiring after the 2009 season. photo courtesy of maryland athletics

By Joshua Needelman Staff writer Brett Nelligan stood in the public health school’s training facility last week, overlooking his Terrapins gymnastics team. Nearby, sophomore Stephanie Giameo — the face of Nelligan’s squad — stretched on a pile of mats.

It was a familiar setting for Nelligan. As the son of longtime Terps coach Bob Nelligan, he grew up in that room.

“That was my crib,” Nelligan said, pointing to the nearby mats. “That was where I lived.”

Though the Terps fell at No. 11 Auburn a few days later, Nelligan couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride in the narrow defeat.

A few years ago, the T igers would’ve only faced the Terps in an exhibition. After all, Bob Nelligan called himself a “survival coach” during his 31 years leading the Terps.

He was just trying to keep an unheralded program alive, to avoid letting it fall victim to mounting budget cuts.

But much has changed since the younger Nelligan took over almost four years ago at 28. The No. 24 Terps have emerged as one of the top teams in the nation and are rivaling the sport’s dynasties in toptier talent.

“I think we are building something great here,” Brett Nelligan said. “To get [to the Top 18] and stay there for six straight weeks is really hard.”

For Nelligan, turning the Terps into a national power has been a lifelong project. He may have only joined the coaching staff nearly 10 years ago, but he has spent most of his life analyzing the program.

“I know this program in and out,” Nelligan said. “I think that’s helped me in recruiting. I’m selling something that I’m passionate about and that I personally love.”

As a child, Nelligan frequently traveled with the team. One year, when the team trekked to New Hampshire for the conference championship, he climbed into the luggage See NELLIGAN, Page 7