TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2015 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK
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MaryPIRG looks back on semester of advocacy Student group ran four main campaigns coordinator for the “Reclaiming Our Democracy” campaign, noted the group missed many opportunities to engage other student groups on the campus, however, and said he hopes to improve that for next semester. For the “Reclaiming Our Democracy” campaign, the group hosted a screening of the documentary Pay 2 Play on March 30, with 140 students in attendance. The movie focused on the Citizens United decision — which dealt with regulating organizations’ campaign spending — and U.S. Sens. John Sarbanes and Chris Van Hollen held a discussion after the showing. Members also gathered 1,265 signatures throughout the semester on a petition asking U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer to support overturning the Citizens United decision. “I’m encouraged to see students at the University of Maryland getting involved in this critical issue — it is vital that representatives hear from constituents of all ages about what matters to them,” Hoyer wrote in an email. Breyer Hillegas, this cam-
pus’s College Republicans president, said although he and his group fully support campaign finance reform, they chose not to cosponsor the Pay 2 Play event because it “seemed to target conservatives” by only hosting Democratic politicians and placed sole focus on Citizens United. Another MaryPIRG effort — “Antibiotic-Free Meat Campaign” — joined a national PIRG movement urging McDonald’s to stop overusing antibiotics to mass-produce poultry. As the movement heated up in mid-February, university students used social media to send out petitions asking the fast-food restaurant to adopt the policy change. McDonald’s agreed in early March to phase out antibiotics used in human medicine in its poultry over two years, said Sim Bastakoti, the campaign’s visual and grassroots coordinator and a freshman Spanish major. “People don’t rea l i ze there’s a problem unless it is overwhelming and it’s affecting them — and we don’t want people to realize this is a problem until they are already
[antibiotic]-resistant,” Bastakoti said. Like the democracy campaign, the “Clean Water for America” campaign also received responses from elected officials. In early February, members of the clean water campaign asked U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin to support an Environmental Protection Agency rule change that would strengthen the Clean Water Act. In mid-April, members also began calling for the American brewing company AnheuserBusch to support the rule change because many small beer companies were in support of it, said Morgan Folger, campaign coordinator for the “Clean Water for America” campaign. “Like McDonald’s and the antibiotic campaign, we thought it would be a turning point to have this huge company change their mind and come out in support of it,” the junior English and environmental science and technology major said. In MaryPIRG’s final major event of the semester, members of the “Hunger and Homelessness Campaign” held a “Sleepout For the Homeless”
“These aren’t necessarily habitable planets,” Wilkins said. “But the applications of From PAGE 1 the techniques I’m using to find “We’re learning about the out how these atmospheres properties of planets by looking form will help down the line with smaller planets.” at visible light,” he said. Wade Henning, a research Through a statistical analyassociate in the astronomy sis of Kepler data, Sheets has seen reflected light from a department, is leading the group of small planets, Deming other team at the universaid. Wilkins said her own re- sity. Henning is working at search has consisted of analyz- NASA’s Goddard Space Flight ing atmospheres of giant exo- Center to study the effects of planets, such as Hot Jupiters, tidal heating — the frictional using the Hubble Space Tele- heating of a planet’s surface scope to help find information due to its orbital energy — and how that can save certain about habitable planets.
planets from being ejected from the solar system. “We a re ex plori ng how this phenomenon alters the environment of exoplanets,” Henning said. “There are quite a variety of things tidal heating can cause, such as extreme volcanism or magma oceans on the surface of some planets.” Tidal heating can help save planets that are too frigid to sustain life, Henning said. “Tidal heating can also create a habitable environment on planets that would otherwise be too cold, and there’s a lot of opportunity for
that, because there are a lot of very cold places out there in the galaxy,” he said. “Another phenomenon that our team is looking at are ways in which such tidal heating may actually save Earth-sized planets from orbital chaos more often than previously expected.” While the initiative’s goal is to find more habitable planets, Deming’s team is centered on planets that have conditions that are not suitable for life to provide a framework for lifesustaining planets. “A habitable planet means the atmosphere has to be thick
By Josh Magness @josh_mag Staff writer When Luke Pinton looks at MaryPIRG today, he said he sees a much more efficient student advocacy group than what existed two years ago when he was president — a time constrained by the loss of the organization’s campaign organizer. “We [weren’t] doing much because our campaign was just trying to get our coordinator back,” said Pinton, the former Student Government Association governmental affairs director. “Now, it’s so much more effective from the get-go.” Throughout the semester, the group ran four campaigns: “Reclaiming Our Democracy” for campaign finance reform; “Clean Water for America” for environmental advocacy; “Alleviate Hunger & Homelessness” for raising awareness about the struggles of low-income people; and “Antibiotic-Free Meat Campaign” for opposing the overuse of antibiotics. Tom Klotz, the campaign
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MEMBERS of MaryPIRG took part in a January rally at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of several events the group has participated in this year. file photo/the diamondback event on McKeldin Mall on Friday to raise awareness of homelessness. The 150 students who attended — including the 50 students who slept on the mall — listened to speakers talk about their experiences, including junior Rhys Hall, who was homeless “off-and-on for around three months.” “They showed that they actually cared about us and that they wanted to raise awareness on the issue in the proper way,” the sociology major said. During the event, students also gathered 10 garbage bags full of clothes, made more than 370 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and put together 1,400 toiletry care packages, among other contributions, said Erika Armetta, the co-
ordinator for the hunger and homelessness campaign. Senior Robert Swam, the current MaryPIRG president and an environmental science and technology major, said it’s been a great experience to watch the group grow since he fi rst joined during the spring 2013 semester. As he graduates and leaves the group, Swam said he hopes MaryPIRG continues to expand its outreach and grow even more. “They just need to continue to work on their issues and figure out how to make change,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, it’s all about working on issues and getting change enacted.” jmagnessdbk@gmail.com
“THIS WILL LEAD TO A LOT OF REALLY AWESOME THINGS. [THE INITIATIVE] IS GOING TO BE A JUMPING-OFF POINT.“ ASHLEE WILKINS Astronomy graduate student
enough, and it needs to have liquid water on its surface,” Deming said. “None of the planets we’re studying are habitable. We’re just looking at the hotter ones.” Wi l k i n s sa id wh i le t he teams will most likely not f i nd a l l of t he def i n it ive answers within the threeyear grant period, the work completed during this project
will aid in future research. “This will lead to a lot of really awesome things. NExSS is going to be a jumping-off point,” Wilkins said. “This is a really complicated subject, and we need to take an interdisciplinary approach, and this will really help us focus our goals and efforts.” jcampisidbk@gmail.com
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sulaimon From PAGE 1 “It was a very thorough process, starting with our sta f f, [Ath letic Di rector] K e v i n A n d e rs on a n d h i s staff and [university President Wallace] Loh and his staff,” said T urgeon, who had been gathering information about Sulaimon for more than three months. “It was very thorough, and we all come to the conclusion that he was a great kid, and he had a chance to be a part of our team.” While coaching at Texas A&M, Turgeon recruited Sulaimon out of Strake Jesuit Col lege Prep i n Houston. T urgeon and Terps assistant coach Dustin Clark, who followed his boss to College Pa rk f rom Tex as A & M i n 2011, have known Sulaimon a nd h i s fa m i ly si nce t he budding hoops star was in seventh grade. “T h is has been a rea l ly emotional time for me and my family,” Sulaimon said. “My nex t decision was 100 percent contingent on my trust, the trust factor between me and my future c o a c h . T h e re l a t i o n s h i p that I had with both Coach T urgeon and Coach Clark stems way back to seventh grade when I was 13. … This is where I felt comfortable.” That long-standing relationship convinced Turgeon to take a chance on Sulaimon, the first player Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski kicked off a team in his 35 years at Duke. Loh also met with Sulaimon, and he said Catherine Ca rrol l, th is u n iversity’s T it le I X coord i n ator, attended the meeting with the former Blue Devil. Carroll also helped conduct an investigation into Sulaimon’s actions at Duke. “What I do care is that we follow our values and our policies,” Loh said. “And I
believe we did that.” On the court, Sulaimon appears to fit well into the Terps rotation. At 6 feet, 4 inches, Sulaimon could sta r t nex t to A l l-Big Ten point guard Melo Trimble i n t he backcou r t or even slide into a stacked frontcou r t, wh ich a l ready i ncludes NBA hopefuls Jake Layman, Robert Carter Jr. and Diamond Stone. Sulaimon started 50 games during his first two seasons in Durham, North Carolina, but saw a dropoff in playing time and production i n h is ju n ior season. After averaging 11.6 points i n 29.2 minutes per game as a f resh ma n, Su la i mon averaged 7.5 points in 19.3 minutes per contest this past season. The downtick in contributions reportedly sparked confrontation between Krzyzewski and Sulaimon, which led to his dismissal from the eventual national champion Blue Devils. Sti l l, T u rgeon bel ieves Sulaimon will be productive in College Park. Sulaimon had one of his best career games against the Terps in January 2013, when he shot 6 of 8 on 3-p oi nters a nd scored 25 points as a freshman to lead the Blue Devils to an 84-64 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “Person a l it y-w i se, we feel he fits in great with our team,” Turgeon said. “He has the same goals in mind as his teammates. As a player, he fits our team and what we were trying to add. He can play wing, play point, and he’s a very good defender. And with his experience, he brings some leadership.” Su la i mon took a v isit to College Park on Friday to meet with the staff and team. Turgeon said his team leaders gave “the thumbsup” to add Sulaimon after meeting with him in person, and the Houston native explained that his time on the
campus helped him choose the Terps. “T he ici n g on top, t he cherry on top that kind of s e a l e d t he d e a l , wa s my actual visit,” Sulaimon said. “The entire community was just amazing to me. From President Loh to Athletic Di rector Kev i n A nderson to the people I ran into on campus and all the way down to my teammates. They were family guys. They accepted me and embraced me.” S u l a i m o n s a i d h e u nderstands that students at this university and media members across the country will lean on the sexual assault allegations to criticize his character. He said he will simply try “to move forward with [his] life” and start anew under Turgeon. Three years ago, Turgeon drew mild criticism when he signed guard Dez Wells, then a sophomore who had been expelled from Xavier a fter sex ua l assau lt a l legations. Xavier and Wells later agreed to a settlement for an undisclosed amount over his expulsion. Wells stayed out of trouble during his three years in College Pa rk, ea rned A l l-Big Ten honors as a senior this past year and was never charged with a crime. T u rgeon , t hou g h, sa id Wel l s’ success a s a Ter p d id n’t come i nto play during Sulaimon’s recruitm e n t . R a t h e r, T u r g e o n treated it as a different case while coming to a similar decision. “I believe in the process,” Turgeon said. “We did our due diligence. I’ve known the kid since seventh grade. I just know he’s a great kid, great character. And I know he’s going to be a great addition to our team.” Senior staff writer Ellie Silverman contributed to this report. newsumdbk@gmail.com