ON TOP OF HIS GAME
A SEARCH BEGINS
Big Boi’s solo debut spotlights the rapper as one of the genre’s finest
Possible replacements for Athletics Director Debbie Yow emerge SPORTS | PAGE 8
DIVERSIONS | PAGE 6
Thursday, July 8, 2010
THE DIAMONDBACK THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Students mugged in Lot 1
Univ. disregards area restrictions on water Students largely uninformed about local order to decrease consumption BY SOHAYL VAFAI Staff writer
The university is facing criticism from students and public works officials for violating mandatory water restrictions and not notifying on-campus residents of the need to conserve. The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission ordered all its customers throughout Prince George’s and Montgomery counties — including the university — to minimize water consumption between last Thursday and early Tuesday as it made emergency repairs to its largest water main. To maintain enough water pressure for firefighters and to prevent a
contamination risk, WSSC told customers to halt all outdoor water usage and minimize consumption while washing clothes and dishes, bathing and even flushing toilets. Anyone caught watering plants or washing cars risked a $500 fine. But the university didn’t even hear about restrictions until noon Friday, according to William Monan, assistant director of landscape services. Even then it only reduced its watering instead of halting it altogether as WSSC required, Monan said, and the university said nothing to most students until more than nine hours after the five-day restriction period had ended.
see WATER, page 7
Our 100TH Year, No. 146
Police arrest two teens after ‘brazen’ robbery BY LEAH VILLANUEVA Staff writer
A university employee waters plants near Lot 1 on July 2 despite an order banning all outdoor water use. BRADY HOLT/THE DIAMONDBACK
BEATING THE HEAT
Two students were assaulted and robbed in Lot 1B on Friday afternoon, police said, and two 16-year-olds were arrested nearby shortly afterward in connection with the crime. In what police believe to be the first broad-daylight mugging on the campus in more than a year, the two students — both men — were attacked by a teen who approached them on a bicycle as they were getting into their car parked near Knight Hall, University Police spokesman Capt. Marc Limansky said. The students were walking back from the University Health Center at about 3 p.m. when a teenager came up behind them and accused them of talking about his mother. The students ignored him and got into the front seats of their black four-door Toyota, but the teen — who police do not believe knew the students — climbed into the passenger side of the back seat and continued to badger them. When the driver came around to the rear passenger door and told the teen to get out of the car, the teen punched the student in the face, knocking him to the ground, then got into the driver’s seat and began punching the other student, who remained in the passenger’s seat, Limansky said. He then grabbed the second student’s iPhone and rode off with another teenager on bicycles, Limansky said, adding the students suffered minor injuries. The students and a passerby who witnessed the robbery immediately called police with a description of the robbers and their bicycles, and University Police broadcast an alert, Limansky said. Police stopped one of the two suspects at the
see ROBBERY, page 2
Next president might not be permanent Interim could replace Mote as search drags on BY RICHARD ABDILL Staff writer
to conserve energy from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. due to the possibility of brownouts and blackouts caused by a large increase in electricity demand in the area. An hour after the university’s email, Commons management followed suit, asking residents to
An interim president may take over the university after President Dan Mote’s retirement takes effect Aug. 31, according to Donald Kettl, the public policy dean and chairman of the search committee tasked with finding Mote’s replacement. After Mote announced his retirement in February, Chancellor Brit Kirwan and the Board of Regents apDAN MOTE pointed a presidential UNIVERSITY search committee to inPRESIDENT terview candidates and compile a short list for Kirwan and the regents to consider. Kettl said that while his group was working “as quickly as we can,” there is no guarantee there will be a permanent replacement by the time Mote leaves at the beginning of the fall semester. Kirwan said he would appoint an interim president in the meantime, a situation that wouldn’t be unprecedented at this university — an interim was briefly in charge after Kirwan himself stepped down as president here in 1998 before Mote’s appointment.
see COMMONS, page 3
see MOTE, page 3
As temperatures reached the triple digits for the third straight day Wednesday, pedestrians on the campus found relief at a water station the University Health Center set up outside of the Stamp Student Union. Prince George’s County officials reported that 28 people across the county have been taken to local hospitals for heat-related illnesses. MATTHEW CREGER/THE DIAMONDBACK
Air conditioning outages exasperate residents of Commons 1 and 2 Area increase in energy demand due to the heat threatens to overload electrical grid Commons 1 and 2 were without air conditioning Tuesday night, and Commons 2 residents were still facing air conditioning issues Wednesday evening, residents and a community assistant said after temperatures soared to 101
degrees during the day. Abby Widom, a university alum who was staying with a friend in Commons 2 Tuesday night, called the outage “miserable.” “I woke up drenched,” she said. South Campus Commons management could not be reached for comment on the incident Wednesday night.
TOMORROW’S WEATHER:
Partly Cloudy/90s
BY ALICIA MCCARTY For The Diamondback
At the same time some students were left without air conditioning, university officials requested students across the campus conserve energy as air conditioner use throughout the region threatened to overload the electrical grid. Officials sent out a campus-wide e-mail early Wednesday afternoon asking the university community
INDEX
NEWS . . . . . . . . . .2 OPINION . . . . . . . .4
FEATURES . . . . . .5 CLASSIFIED . . . . .6
DIVERSIONS . . . . .6 SPORTS . . . . . . . . .8
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