May 14, 2015

Page 1

The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper

2015

FINAL EDITIO S N

I NS I

DE

T H U R S DAY, M AY 1 4 , 2 015

More adjuncts, same financial struggles Increasing number of professional-track faculty face low wages and growing course load Jon Banister @J_Banister Senior staff writer Adjunct faculty across the country have garnered attention for their fight to earn a living wage, and some

faculty on this campus feel this university is relying too heavily on lowwage instructional faculty. Twenty-five percent of part-time faculty nationwide receive some government assistance, such as food stamps, Medicaid or welfare, according

to a study from the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education released in April. A growing number of professors at this university are hired on a semester-by-semester basis and paid relatively low wages per course, putting them in dire financial struggles, said Sabrina Baron, who represents part-time lecturers in the University Senate.

This nationwide problem has led to a call for action among faculty advocacy groups, which emphasize the detrimental impact this has on the quality of education students receive. Faculty at this university are appointed in two categories: tenure-track faculty and professionaltrack faculty. See ADJUNCT, Page 3

Yao Yao, a visiting scholar, chats with student Ellen Levine, his ESOL program partner, inside the Stamp Art Gallery. tom hausman/the diamondback

Break-ins and a body

Language program to shut down Nearly 500 participated in ESOL conversation program in 2013-14

Students, residents in area apartment complexes cite many safety concerns

By Ellie Silverman @esilverman11 Senior staff writer Ellen Levine and Yao Yao sit outside the Stamp Art Gallery and talk. They discuss Yao’s computer science research, upcoming finals — and the recent release of the new Avengers movie. “I don’t understand all the languages because there’s not subheads, but I think I missed a lot of details,” said Yao, 26, a visiting scholar from the Beijing Institute of Technology. “Even if you don’t know the background, there is a good guy and a bad guy, the pro...” “Oh, the protagonist and the antagonist,” said Levine, a sophomore English major. “So who is who?” Yao asked. “If it is good versus evil, it is almost always the protagonist versus antagonist,” Levine said. “Most stories go like that.” This is the last of Levine and

By Eleanor Mueller @eleanor_mueller Staff writer

A student holds the door for others at the University View apartments. Tenants of other area apartments have voiced safety concerns.

josh loock/the diamondback

A de ad b o dy i s a hel l of a wake-up call. Stefon Powell, 22, had been living in Camden College Park before pol ice d iscovered h is corpse Jan. 1 between two bullet-riddled cars in the complex’s parking lot. His killer is still at large, and Powell’s shooting was the crest of a wave of crime that had been crashing over Camden — just three miles off this university’s campus — for months. Breakins had been occurring at the apa r t ments at a n u nu s u a l ly high rate since October, with the building witnessing as many

See ESOL, Page 8

See UNSAFE, Page 2

Tuition increase could affect univ diversity, study shows

Grad student dies at city MARC stop

Hikes could lower minority enrollment

Train struck Rebecca Selleck, 35, while she crossed platform

By Lexie Schapitl @lexieschapitl Staff writer

By Taylor Swaak @tswaak27 Senior staff writer When she wasn’t studying lima bean pathogens and taking classes at this university, 35-year-old graduate student Rebecca Selleck — whom departmental coworkers remember as a quirky, caring person — loved traveling and making arts and crafts. “This is a person who in a very short time became someone who everyone knew and liked and admired. A very caring and a very giving person,” Angus Murphy, the plant

Rebecca Selleck, a plant sciences graduate student, died Monday after a CSX train struck her while she crossed a railway platform at the College Park MARC station. She was 35. photo courtesy of angus murphy sciences and landscape architecture department chairman, said of Selleck, who died Monday morning at the College Park MARC station. Selleck, who was about to complete her first year studying plant sciences at this university, was crossing a railway platform when a CSX train struck her, according to a Prince George’s County Police blog post.

ISSUE NO. 115, OUR 105 TH YEAR OF PUBLICATION

@thedbk

DBKNEWS.COM

TheDiamondback

Scan the QR Code to download our mobile app

Submit tips, comments and inquiries to the news desk at NEWSUMDBK@GMAIL.COM

Prince George’s County patrol officers responded to the incident at 11:05 a.m., according to the report. Responders found Selleck suffering from critical injuries, and medical examiners pronounced her dead at the scene. “Any time a pedestrian is involved in an incident with a train, See SELLECK, Page 3

The tuition increases the University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted on last week could cause a shift in this university’s racial diversity, according to a study presented at the American Educational Research Association’s April meeting. The study of 530 institutions from 1998 to 2012, conducted by researchers from New York University and the City University of New York, found the number of black and Hispanic students on college campuses tends to drop as tuition costs increase.

A $1,000 increase in tuition and fees at an average public four-year institution could result in a 2.5 percent drop in racial and ethnic diversity, according to the study. “Results from this study highlight the need for education leaders and research to look critically at how the cost of higher education intersects with access for underrepresented populations,” the study states. Last week, the board voted to raise tuition systemwide by up to 5 percent, translating to a $388 hike for in-state students and a $1,395 increase for outof-state students at this university. In addition, this university will raise tuition for juniors and seniors in computer science, engineering and business majors. This differential pricing will begin phasing in for the fall semester. See TUITION, Page 9

SPORTS BROOKLYN’S FINEST

OPINION

Terrapins baseball third baseman Jose Cuas and catcher Kevin Martir grew up in New York together and used the sport as their way out of the city P. 14

Grading university officials, departments and organizations P. 4

STAFF EDITORIAL: A university report card

DIVERSIONS

ABOUT THE PRICE TAG A look at SEE’s past and future finances P. 6

your

sell all textbooks umd

@kelso419

I be like helllllll yeaaaa when I get that BookHolders email telling me I just made 200$ #hellyeah

Expand

Reply

Retweet

Favorite

More

18 Sep

ready

1983 international editions

custom editions

anytime

by mail open late

older editions

for the

loose-leaf editions

calculators

most money

clickers 7417 baltimore ave college park | bookholders.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
May 14, 2015 by The Diamondback - Issuu