TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 | NEWs | The Diamondback
BRESLOw From PAGE 1 In 1970, eight years after his arrival from Harvard University’s graduate school, Breslow became involved in the university’s shared governance. But before Vietnam protests — riots, sit-ins, teach-ins and general disruptions — gripped the campus, Breslow said the University Senate was a toothless body. The senate only met twice per year, compared to eight or nine times now, and Breslow said it served mainly as an outlet for the university president to give policy addresses. “Mainly, it was there to hear the speech from the throne and then go home,” he said. But as the war dragged on and dissenting voices on the campus grew louder, Breslow said administrators started to listen more to the community and pay more attention to shared governing efforts such as the senate. From there, he said the senate in its current incarnation began. As the senate progressed, so did Breslow’s involvement. He led several senate committees over the years and was elected the chairman of the full senate for the 1997-1998 academic year. After retiring in 2000 and being named professor emeritus, he continued his involve-
ELECTRICITY From PAGE 1 with the ultimate goal of achieving 100 percent carbon neutrality. The school realized the first target last year by reducing its emissions 15 percent since 2005. The next targets are 25 percent by 2015 and 50 percent by 2020. “Every year, we’re increasing the percent [of energy] that comes from renewable sources,” said Mark Stewart, Office of Sustainability senior project manager. “But we don’t have an overarching strategy for achieving our 2020 goal.” Besides keeping campus growth carbon-neutral and implementing more conservation technology, Stewart said, eliminating nonrenewable energy sources is the only way to achieve that goal. As Gutin pushes his proposal over the coming weeks,
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ment with the senate, serving as parliamentarian — a procedural guide and rules adviser for the senate — for the next 12 years. He stepped down prior to the start of this academic year, but he will stick around in the interim as an informal adviser. The parliamentarian is a critical role, said Vincent Novara, senate chairman. Breslow’s knowledge of the university’s and senate’s history, Novara said, was vital to the senate. “He has tremendous knowledge in his mind of the history of the senate and the University of Maryland,” Novara added. “He has been involved with it in so many different capacities that he’s basically seen it all. There’s nobody here who has the same level of deep knowledge that Marvin has.” Ken Holum, who replaced Breslow as parliamentarian, said Breslow’s array of experiences at the university and knowledge of senate rules and history makes his a hard act to follow. “It’ll take me some time to get up to speed, and to follow Marvin Breslow is probably more than you could ask anyone to accomplish,” Holum said. Since he’s been at this university, plenty has changed, including the evolution of the senate and the administrative structure of the university. In 1988, more than 25 years after Breslow’s arrival, the Universi-
ty System of Maryland formed, transforming this university from a more isolated state school to the flagship institution of 11 total colleges and universities. It was easier to work under the previous system, Breslow said. “The mission of so many of the schools are so very different that I don’t think it really works to everybody’s best effect,” he said. “But we’ve learned to live with it, and we’ve carried a lot of the burden of it, the help with the administering of the smaller schools and stuff like that.” Before that change, Breslow spearheaded a different sort of reform on the campus. In 1976, he chaired the senate committee that brought about the university’s first transition to a general education curriculum that mirrors the one in effect today. That work, he said, is one of his proudest accomplishments in 50 years at the university. A l o n gs i d e h i s wo rk i n the senate, Breslow spent his career teaching English history to several generations of students. The Lincoln, Neb., native attended the University of Nebraska before heading to Harvard for graduate school. But the expert on Tudor and Stuart England was drawn to this university in part by its proximity to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington. “We talk about, ‘Gee, the
Washington area is a great attraction for those who want to do various kinds of Marvin Breslow Parliamentarian wo r k i n scholarship, research, stuff like that,’” Breslow said. “Well, the Folger Library was very important for me.” His intellect and experiences made him an asset to the classroom and in the history department’s planning room, Holum said. “He was one of the most gracious and intelligent colleagues in the department who inevitably had good judgment about the department and the way we ran things,” Holum said, “and was also a really excellent teacher and scholar.” Among his senate work, research and teaching, Breslow has spent his adult life working on the campus. To hear him tell it, he wouldn’t have it any other way. “This was my kind of involvement in the community of the university. It’s a community of many things and purposes, and I just have always been involved in that kind of thing,” he said. “There’s something very special about universities for me, as a way of life.”
Stewart said the next step is to dive into the details, such as where the clean energy would come from, how much it would cost and how much of it could come from projects within the University System of Maryland. This university gets at least half of its electricity and all of its heat from a universityowned natural gas power plant on Route 1. The school pays for the rest through various contracts to use the local power grid at about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, Stewart said. About 15 percent of the purchased energy already comes from clean sources, though Gutin would like to see that number become 100 percent by 2020. Such a change would have offset almost a quarter of the school’s total carbon footprint in 2012, Stewart said. Purchased energy was the second-largest contributor to the school’s carbon emissions last year, accounting for 64,335 metric tons
worth of carbon emissions out of the total 278,722. The campus power plant accounted for 45 percent of that total, with oncampus commuting and air travel making up most of the rest. The demand for purchased electricity has increased with on- and off-campus growth, according to the 2012 sustainability report. To meet the demand with clean energy, Stewart said there are two options. Some university system clean energy projects, such as the 16.1 megawatt solar array at Mount St. Mary’s University and the Roth Rock Wind Farm in western Maryland, have the potential to provides large amount of energy in an efficient and environmentally friendly way. Those projects already funnel one-third of the energy they produce to the university system. There are also a number of local, unaffiliated projects that could give the university clean
energy options. The limiting factor, Stewart said, is costs. “We want to go about this in a smart and strategic way so we get the most out of every dollar,” he said. “We want the most carbon bang for every buck.” As the sustainability office examines his proposal, Gutin plans to reach out to students, alumni and faculty. Carlo Colella, Facilities Management assistant vice president and University Sustainability Council chair, echoed the need for major change to stay on track for the 2050 goal. “We have harvested a lot of the low-hanging fruit, and it’s getting harder to get to that end goal without a game changer or bigger strategy,” Colella said. “We don’t have that at this time, but we are working to make that happen.”
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reform From PAGE 1 Rouse said even conservatives, who typically have been less in favor of measures that support undocumented immigrants, are more sympathetic to the plight of the younger generation. “There’s a lot of support even among conservative Republicans in Congress,” Rouse said. And despite promises from liberals to address the issue on a comprehensive basis with strengthening border security, establishing a path to citizenship and streamlining the legal immigration process, Rouse said the current legislative climate doesn’t lend itself to a broader discussion. If lawmakers have time to address immigration reform at all, it will likely be on a piecemeal basis, Rouse said, which is likely to appeal more to Republicans anyway. It’s not a question of whether there’s support for immigration reform, Rouse said — it’s a question of whether legislation will make it to the discussion floor in time to capitalize on that support. “The reality is that probably nothing will come out of this Congress when it comes to immigration,” Rouse said. “If I was a betting person, I would say there’s very little chance something gets done because of where congressional priorities are right now.” Rouse added that while a federal DREAM Act could take as long as 10 to 15 years to pass and will require the Hispanic voting bloc to mobilize and turn their “numbers into political power,” she expects that legislation could be in the cards — if not during this Congress, then during the next. But tensions could mount over the current issues Congress faces, potentially jeopardizing the legislation’s future with votes tainted by unrelated partisan spats. Last week, prospects began to look even dimmer, as two Republicans dropped out of talks from an ever-shrinking bipartisan group tasked with discussing the issue, once known as the “Gang of Eight.” Reps. John Carter (R-Texas) and Sam Johnson (R-Texas) in a joint statement said the immigration bill would give President Obama an opportunity to play politics and give him too much authority, as they alleged was the case in several other presidential initiatives,
“If I was a betting person, I would say there’s very little chance something gets done.” STELLA ROUSE
Government and politics professor such as the Affordable Care Act and gun control. “It would be gravely irresponsible to further empower this administration by granting them additional authority or discretion with a new immigration system,” the statement said. “The bottom line is — the American people do not trust the president to enforce laws, and we don’t either.” The Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill — which focuses on tighter border security and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, among other provisions — in June, although the same kind of bill has yet to be brought to vote in the House, in which a few conservative opponents have encouraged lawmakers to reject the legislation. Last week, however, in remarks to the Business Roundtable Headquarters in Washington, Obama emphasized to immigration reform as an important measure of economic growth, spotlighting an issue that has seemed to fade away at the federal level. Of all the issues currently stalled in Congress, he said, “immigration is the most obvious.” “We know that if we implement immigration reform, that that can add potentially a trillion dollars to our economy,” Obama said. “And that we will continue to attract the best and brightest talent around the world.” He added that the current call for legislation is being drowned out by the voices of a few who are stopping the issue from getting a vote. Capitol Hill has made promising moves to pass comprehensive reform before, Rouse said. There was a push for it during George W. Bush’s presidency, during which he supported a similar measure but was met with conservative backlash. “You had just a few very right-wing zealots who killed it, and they couldn’t get it done then,” Rouse said. “You have the same thing now.” jbachdbk@gmail.com
CITY COUNCIL 2013 The full list of candidates running for the College Park City Council went public Monday. Elections take place Tuesday, Nov. 5, and incumbents are marked in bold text.
MAYOR Andrew M. Fellows Robert J. Mc Ceney
DISTRICT 1 COUNCILMEMBER: S.M. Fazlul Kabir Benjamin S. Mellman Patrick L . Wojahn
DISTRICT 2 COUNCILMEMBER: P. J. Brennan Monroe S. Dennis
DISTRICT 3 COUNCILMEMBER: Robert W. Day, Sr. Matthew E . Popkin Stephanie E . Stullich
DISTRICT 4 COUNCILMEMBER: Alan Y. Hew Denise C . Mitchell
CORRECTION Due to an editing error, the caption associated with the Thursday article, “Law minor to start in program next fall,” incorrectly identified the pictured building as Cumberland Hall. The building was Centreville Hall. Due to an editing error, John Hampton was incorrectly identified in the Monday article, “Saturday night with the police.” He is a master patrol officer.