September 3, 2015

Page 1

The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 015

University gears up for Byrd Stadium beer sales Officials plan for increased security presence, hope for improved gameday atmosphere By Jessie Campisi @jessiecampisi Staff writer As the football team prepares for its first home game on Saturday, this university is getting ready to sell beer at Byrd Stadium. T he P ri nce G eorge’s Cou nty Board of License Commissioners

approved this university’s proposal in July, favoring the sale in a 3-1 vote. The College Park City Council voted 5-3 in support of the proposal. “When it was first proposed, we were a little unsure, but we’ve seen through a number of peer institutions that there have been far fewer problems after implementing beer

sales at football games,” University Police Chief David Mitchell said. The plan is part of a one-year trial period allowing beer sales a t B y rd S t a d i u m a n d X f i n i t y Center du ri ng footba l l a nd basketball games. “Alcohol is something that people abuse all the time at any university, so I think that people will still try to bring their own alcohol anyway,” said Lexi Levenson, a sophomore BYRD STADIUM will sell alcohol to fans for the first time at Saturday’s football game against Richmond See ALCOHOL, Page 2 after the Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners approved its sale in July. file photo/the diamondback

O’Malley’s 2016 bid continues to falter Former state governor overshadowed by Republicans, Sanders By Darcy Costello @dctello Senior staff writer

Senior AMNA FAROOQI speaks to J Street U members outside the national headquarters of Hillel in March. Farooqi, a Muslim, was elected national president of the liberal pro-Israel student group. photo courtesy of moshe zusman/j street

Seeing both sides Pro-Israel group J Street U taps Muslim university senior as president By Talia Richman @TaliRichman Senior staff writer Amna Farooqi spent the spring of her freshman year poring over the 1930s-era diary entries of Israel’s first prime minister. She enrolled in a class in which each student was assigned a historic figure to role-play during a semester-long simulation of Jew-

ish-Arab negotiations, and Farooqi immersed herself in the task of impersonating David Ben-Gurion. Now a senior, she’s again taking on the role of a leader in the proIsrael movement — this time as the recently elected national president of J Street U, the campus branch of the liberal lobbying group that calls itself “the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans.” But unlike Ben-Gurion and other

prominent Zionist figures who advocated Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people, Farooqi is Muslim. “It’s interesting to have the perspective of someone who came from a different background but ended up in the same place and ultimately wants the same thing for the American Jewish community,” she said, “which is for it to be active and thriving and acting on its values.” Farooqi, a government and poli-

tics major, was elected last month after running against three other candidates during J Street U’s Summer Leadership Institute in Washington. She previously served as the national board’s Southeast representative and interned with the group in Israel last summer. Fa rooqi is the first Muslim student to be elected president See FAROOQI, Page 3

Monument Village set to open on Route 1 in spring 235-apartment complex will target young professionals, feature 4,800 square feet of retail By Joe Atmonavage @Fus_DBK Staff writer An apartment complex targeting young professionals located on Route 1 near the Route 193 exit will open in spring 2016. Monument Village at College Park will feature 235 apartments, 4,800 square feet of retail space and a 343-car parking garage for residents and retail patrons, Amy Phillips, the project manager and Monument Realty vice president, wrote in an email. The apartment complex, which began construction last year, also will include a fitness center with spin and yoga rooms, an outdoor pool, a theater, a pet spa and a clubroom with a fireplace and pool table, among other amenities. It will offer

studio and one- and two-bedroom units. Terry Schum, the city’s planning director, said Monument Village will be a key part of attracting people to College Park. “Monument is important because it will be the first market-rate nonstudent housing to be built on the Route 1 corridor,” she said. “The city would like to see more non-student housing of all types built. We need alternatives to the older, single-family detached housing found in most of our neighborhoods. We’d also like to attract more university faculty and staff to live in the city and graduates to live and work in the city.” The city originally approved a plan for the apartment complex that included 200 apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail space, but based of other complexes nearby, the site

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See O’MALLEY, Page 3

Univ system chancellor settling in Budget, graduation rates cited as priorities By Taylor Swaak @tswaak27 Senior staff writer

organic development with smaller individual retailers.” No retailers have been selected, but Phillips wrote that Monument is looking for smaller, community-serving stores such as bike or coffee shops. Phillips believes the apartment complex will thrive because of

Robert Caret was satisfied with his position as University of Massachusetts System president. But minutes after former University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan announced his intentions to step down last year, phone calls began pouring in. “I wasn’t in a position where I really wanted to leave,” said Caret, who served as the Massachusetts system’s president for four and a half years. “But as the search unfolded, obviously people encouraged me to look at it. I began to get interested in it, and it all sort of came together.” After about six months and 16 trips back and forth to meet with university presidents, legislative heads and the business community, Caret became the system’s chancellor July 1 — returning to the state system in which he has 29 previous years of experience.

See monument, Page 3

See CARET, Page 2

MONUMENT VILLAGE will include amenities such as a fitness center with spin and yoga rooms, an outdoor pool, a theater, a pet spa and a clubroom with a fireplace and pool table. image courtesy of monument realty plan was revised, Phillips wrote in an email. “The plan was changed to ensure that the amount of retail on the site will be viable,” Phillips wrote. “Residential projects along Route 1 built after 2007, when this project was originally approved, have shown the difficulty of filling and sustaining large retail blocks. Successful Route 1 retail has historically been more of an

When former state Gov. Martin O’Malley announced his presidential campaign May 30 in Federal Hill Park in Baltimore, his odds of winning the nomination weren’t great. Relatively unknown in the national political field, he faced the challenge of distinguishing himself from fellow Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Since his announcement, he has failed to draw the national attention or popularity of his competitors, securing 2 percent of votes in a recent poll despite what supporters call an impressive list of progressive legislative achievements.

SPORTS

OPINION

TERPS FOOTBALL SEASON PREVIEW

GUEST: Wallace Loh

The Terrapins football team is looking to build on backto-back winning seasons before highly-touted 2016 recruiting class arrives P. 20

A welcome-back letter from the university president P. 4 DIVERSIONS

A TALE OF TWO CONVENIENCE STORES CVS and TargetExpress go head-to-head on pricing P. 11


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