September 27, 2012

SPORTS

DIVERSIONS

SWITCHING IT UP

READY FOR THE SPOTLIGHT

Volleyball’s Sarah Harper moves to libero, standing out in new position p. 8

Cast members ready for tonight’s debut of A Midsummer Night’s Dream p. 6

The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper

ISSUE NO. 21

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TOMORROW 80S / Partly sunny

McKeldin extends floor hours All seven floors now open after 11 p.m.

Thursday, september 27, 2012

Alcohol license easier to acquire City council votes to simplify process for businesses to obtain beer and wine licenses

By Lily Hua Staff writer More city grocery stores could be able to sell beer and wine in the coming

weeks after the College Park City Council voted to make acquiring such licenses easier at its meeting Tuesday.

City officials said the proposal could draw in potential vendors and help re-

vitalize the city. The council voted 6-0, with one member abstaining, for the plan, which will move on to the state legislature for approval.

“The idea behind this is to increase

the amount of places that can have licenses, not to take any away,” said District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn.

See licenses, Page 2

By Savannah Doane-Malotte and Samantha Inzalaco Staff writers The loud, chaotic environment associated with McKeldin Library’s latenight study hours may be no more.

While students previously could access only the first two levels of the library after 11 p.m., library officials opened all seven floors of McKeldin for late-night use starting this semester.

Administrators said they hope the extra space will not only lighten congestion on the first and second floor, but also improve the cleanliness of the restrooms on these floors, which frequently became filthy from overuse.

“Upon closing time, we observed that we were displacing a lot of students studying on the upper floors,” Public Services Associate Dean Gary White said. “The library is perpetually crowded and we wanted to create more space for students to work on campus.”

These are not the only changes library officials made this year to turn the library into a more comfortable and tech-savvy study space. The Terrapin Learning Commons on the second floor now boasts a Tech Desk where students can rent laptops, cameras and tablets free of charge — a service previously offered only on the first floor of the library. Staff members also installed a new 36-inch printer on the second floor for running off abnormally large images, such as posters and art projects.

“I think we’ve made a mark in the sand,” Libraries Dean Patricia Steele said. “We brought the copy services and more from downstairs right into the Learning Commons because that is where the students are.”

To add a splash of color to the Terrapin Learning Commons, staff members also installed a new 70-foot-wide digital art installation featuring graphic displays designed by recent university graduates. The artwork changes every 10 minutes and includes cleverly titled

more than 2,000 students flooded McKeldin Mall yesterday at 4:30 p.m. to see a Gangnam style flash mob. The dance was based on South Korean rapper Psy’s video, which has more than 280 million views. charlie deboyace/the diamondback

GANGNAM STYLE

By Laura Blasey Staff writer The point of it all, said South Korean rapper Psy, is to “dress classy, dance cheesy.”

Dance like you’re riding a pony at the state fair,

but wear a suit while you’re doing it — and you’ve got Gangnam style. And so do more than 2,000 university students — surprise!

Decked out in Maryland gear, a crowd of students gathered on McKeldin Mall, faced the administration building and began to dance to Psy’s “Gangnam Style”

when the clock struck 4:30 p.m.

The Mall was flooded with a sea of red shirts — some were there to watch, and others were there to dance. And others … others were confused.

For more about yesterday’s flash mob, check out diamondbackonline.com.

See mckeldin, Page 2

From the ground up New, independent coffee shop opening in Berwyn complex TERPS VOTE hopes to register 4,000 students to vote by the Oct. 16 deadline. photo courtesy of terpsvote.umd.edu

Terps Vote ramps up registration efforts

By Jenny Hottle Staff writer Standing behind a table outside the South Campus Dining Hall on Tuesday evening, James Jalandoni smiled as he watched a cluster of students begin filling out their voter registration forms.

INDEX

Those students were just a few of the more than 150 who registered Tuesday through Terps Vote, a coalition of several campus student groups and university departments.

Although the campus initiative has See voter, Page 2

NEWS 2 OPINION 4 FEATURES 5 DIVERSIONS 6 CLASSIFIED 6 SPORTS 8

By Nick Foley Staff writer Ferhat Yalcin will tell you about the origin and journey of every coffee bean in the coffee shop he plans to open later this year. But the name of the store itself?

“It’s a secret.”

Yalcin isn’t ready to divulge all of the details just yet. As he clears out the space for his new shop at 5008 Berwyn Road — in the same complex where the former Berwyn Cafe resided — he hopes to build up suspense before the debut of his

a coffee shop will open next door to where the former Berwyn Cafe used to reside. file photo/the diamondback store, opening either late this year or early 2013, depending on how fast Yalcin can acquire city permits, he said. It will occupy a spot next to his existing business venture, seafood restaurant Fishnet,

Submit tips to The Diamondback at news@umdbk.com

which has been open for nearly a year.

The shop will aim to make coffee drinking more of an experience, presenting

For breaking news, alerts and more follow us on Twitter @thedbk

See coffee, Page 3

© 2012 THE DIAMONDBACK

2

THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | thursdAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

licenses From PAGE 1

interest in establishing a store in College Park if it could obtain a license, council members said.

“We’d like to see that happen and see a high-quality grocery store in downtown College Park,” Wojahn said.

And having a supermarket closer to the campus would make grocery shopping significantly easier, students said, since Shoppers and Giant, both about three miles from the campus, are the closest stores.

“It’d be good for [a supermarket] to be more nearby,” said junior biochemistry major Beth Hellman. “I personally like Harris Teeter more than Shoppers because of the quality of their food.”

The proposal also addressed a request from the state to give local governments control over how close any establishment that sells alcohol can be to a school or church. If the state approves the measure, the city council can negotiate boundary lines depending on the establishment and the school. This will not affect any standing liquor stores, Wojahn said.

While several city council members said enabling more stores to sell beer and wine may encourage underage drinking, others said underage students will find a way to get alcohol regardless of how many city locations sell it.

“People who are underage are already [drinking] currently,” District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said at the meeting.

“Making it available in grocery stores will not change that.”

Several students said the number of places selling beer and wine licenses in the city is unrelated to the number of instances of underage drinking.

“It’s not going to change how easily students acquire liquor,” sophomore secondary education major Joshua Kim said. “There’s just going to be more places to go.”

The proposal will also help revive the city economy, students and officials said. Several students said allowing more stores to hold beer and wine licenses could be a way to attract more food shopping options to the city. Grocery store chain Harris Teeter expressed hua@umdbk.com

voter From PAGE 1

community together and promote voter registration and education on political issues to help students make more informed choices at the polls, Bryan said.

Julian Gooch, a freshman marketing major who also registered Tuesday, said he’s going to take part in this year’s election because he realizes with the state of the economy and unstable job market, the outcome will directly impact him and influence his life after graduation.

“The next election will have an effect on the economy,” he said.

“It will affect the workplace, where I will be in four years.”

Terps Vote has registered more than 700 students so far this semester, Jalandoni said, but that’s less than one-fourth of the group’s goal of 4,000 students registered by the Oct. 16 deadline, Bryan added.

To meet that goal, members will continue tabling in Hornbake Plaza and outside the dining halls as well as talking to classes and other student groups about registration opportunities, Bryan said.

“We try to make sure we’re reaching different demographics and majors to spread the word as broadly as possible,” Bryan said.

Freshman psychology major Mickey Stebbing, who said he registered to vote the week he turned 18, said students need to get more involved in the political process if they want change.

“If you want to have some sort of say in your political system, you need to get as involved in possible,” Stebbing said. “If you complain about your political system but didn’t vote when you had the chance, then you’re just being a hypocrite.”

“Basically, it’s on us,” said Jalandoni. “If we don’t vote, it won’t happen. It’s really important that we get out there.”

been active all semester, Jalandoni, the SGA’s governmental affairs director, and other members ramped up their efforts Tuesday as part of National Voter Registration Day, a nationwide event seeking to increase voter awareness and registration opportunities.

“It’s great to see that, nationally, we’re getting engaged as a college student base for voter registration,” said Shane Bryan, a Stamp Leadership and Community Service Learning liaison who is overseeing the Terps Vote program this year.

This year is an especially important year to vote, Terps Vote members said, because of the number of issues on the ballot.

Students could not only help determine the outcomes of the presidential and congressional races, but also whether two contentious referendum items will be upheld: the state’s DREAM Act, which would allow undocumented students who meet a set of requirements to qualify for instate tuition, and a law legalizing same-sex marriage.

“There’s a huge generational gap when it comes to that,” Jalandoni said of the two issues.

Several students said they want to ensure the younger generation’s voice is heard come November.

“They say that most people who vote are the elderly, so I feel students should register to vote because they should have as much say in the government as any other citizen,” said junior criminology and criminal justice major Stephanie Grey.

Terps Vote has been working to increase student voter registration since 2008, when it started as an initiative to bring the campus hottle@umdbk.com

McKeldin Library extended its late-night study access to all floors. Officials said they hoped the change would improve congestion and bathroom cleanliness.. charlie deboyace/the diamondback

mckeldin

a special events room to McKeldin’s sixth floor, where lecturers can give seminars, teachers can From PAGE 1 hold special class sessions and pieces such as “In fin ite where meetings can be held. So Monkey,” which is based far, these changes — especially on the idea that if a monkey the expansion of late-night to all types on a computer long floors — have been a big hit with enough, it will eventually student patrons seeking a less distracting place to study. create a masterpiece.

“I like studying on the second “It inspires me to be creative and makes the library floor a lot, but it’s usually really environment more appealing loud,” said Cara Reilly, a freshoverall. I could watch it for man English major. “Having the hours,” supply chain man- chance to go to different floors agement major Tara Scott will give me an opportunity to have quieter surroundings.” said of the display.

Freshman accounting major Administrators also added

Siona Slepoy agreed, noting it is also helpful to have the library’s collections available at every hour of the day.

“In crunch time, when you’re working on a project, the books on those upper floors can really be helpful,” Slepoy said. “You can’t always find everything that you need on the first or second floors.”

Janitorial service schedules still need to be modifi ed to keep these f loors clean, and additional campus security guards were added to the library’s staff to patrol the upper levels after hours, of-

ficials said, adding they will continue to collect student feedback on new ways they can improve the library to service all students’ needs.

“This is just the beginning of expansions,” Steele said. “In the future, we hope to involve all students in library updates and projects. Engineering, business, anthropology — all types of students are coming up with ways to improve McKeldin, and we’re anxious to hear their ideas.” doanemalotte@umdbk.com news@umdbk.com

thursDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

3

Students to bring dental services abroad

UMD Global Dental Brigade members to travel to Honduras in January with U. of Wisconsin-Madison chapter

By Annika McGinnis For The Diamondback In America, getting a tooth pulled isn’t usually cause for celebration.

But in poor, rural Honduras, the possibility of seeing a dentist has people lining up for hours at a time. This January, about 20 students in the recently formed UMD Global Dental Brigades will see it for themselves when they travel to Honduras for a week with American dentists to provide free dental services.

“The places we’re going to, the nearest dentist office is like a day away, hours and hours and hours away,” said junior kinesiology major Danial Dadkhoo, the fundraising vice president. “No one has access to anything.”

The new chapter is part of the International Global Brigades, which runs student volunteer programs in Honduras, Panama and Ghana in fields such as medicine, architecture, law and business. This winter, Maryland students will work with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Global Medical Brigades chapter.

The group will set up mobile dental clinics — essentially, large tents — in rural communities, Dadkhoo said. For about five hours each day, students will help four dentists (three American, one Honduran) with fillings, cleanings, fluoride treatments and extractions on orphaned children, the officers said.

For these children, Dadkhoo said, the services are invaluable.

In rural Honduras, four out of five people don’t have access to dental care, Global Brigades reported. Senior biology major Sam Demarco, who’s considering going on the trip, said she saw the problem on a school-building trip in Honduras.

“It was crazy. There would be 4-year-olds running around, and they had cavities everywhere,” Demarco said.

If sick teeth aren’t treated, the infections can spread to other areas of the body, she added.

Students will be giving out dental supplies and educating children on caring for their teeth, Dadkhoo said.

“We’re going to make up games and skits, make it fun for them,” Dadkhoo said. “We’re going to teach them; ‘How do you brush your teeth? How do you floss?’”

Dadkhoo said so far, three American dentists will attend: Mitra Fard of Rockville, Fedra Witting of Annapolis and Mark Hochberg of New York. And since they’ll be abroad, he said, students will get hands-on experience with procedures only licensed dentists can do in the United States.

“When you shadow, you’re really limited for what you can and cannot do,” Dadkhoo said. “Like after a procedure, I’m not the one telling the patient, ‘Hey, take this medication every six hours; do this and this; don’t do this.’”

But in Honduras, Dadkhoo said students will have much more responsibility.

That’s exactly the kind of impact senior biology major

About 20 students from UMD Global Dental Brigades will follow in the steps of past groups (above) by traveling to rural Honduras in January, helping dentists at mobile dental clinics. photos courtesy of jamie byun

Monica Ashok was hoping for when she founded this university’s Global Dental Brigades chapter last summer at the suggestion of her best friend, the president of this university’s Global Medical Brigades chapter.

This university had many medical service groups, such as Global Medical Brigades, but no dental ones, Ashok said. So, over the summer, Ashok built her organization from the ground up: selecting officers, contacting an adviser in Honduras, leading fundraising efforts and asking dentists to donate or come along.

Witting, who’s been a dentist for 22 years, said she’s been on about 10 similar trips but never before with students. She found the students’ enthusiasm re-

Program to expand physics offerings

By Fatimah Waseem Staff Writer Changes in physics courses may be in store for undergraduate pre-health-care students as this university joins a national push for a more interdisciplinary and hands-on curriculum.

The National Experiment in Undergraduate Science Education, a four-year collaboration between this university, Purdue University, the University of Miami and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, calls for a competency-based approach to learning rather than measuring students’ factual knowledge alone. The program, funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will prepare students for careers in science and medicine, officials said.

Each institution is revamping different aspects of its pre-med curriculum, funded by a total commitment of $1.8 million from HHMI. This university is revising its physics courses with the introduction of a physics for the life sciences course sequence, with classes that emphasize scientific reasoning and a biological approach to physics.

“For the first time, the focus

NEXUS COLLABORATION Four colleges are developing courses in: Mathematics - The University of Maryland, Baltimore Physics - The University of Maryland, College Park Chemistry - Purdue University Intersections of multiple sciences Miami University is more about integrative learning outcomes … de-emphasizing memorization of facts, equations, and formulas,” said Robert Infantino, computer, mathematical and natural sciences college associate dean.

A l l biolog y m ajors a nd pre-med track students must take two introductory physics classes, but through NEXUS, this university aims to develop physics offerings better tailored for life sciences students that professors would eventually see as a valuable addition to students’ arsenal of background knowledge.

T he university will help NEXUS work out the logistics of its experiment, some of which is still in the works, such as how schools will assess student success under one of the revised curricula. The university will expand its pilot classes next year

for all students and will recommend changes to NEXUS partner universities in the next two years.

Other universities’ suggestions may be adopted in the next two years after extensive review, said Katerina Thompson, undergraduate research and internship programs director.

The push for interdisciplinary education is far from new.

“To a certain extent, all of our courses, pre-med or not, are competency-based. Our faculty members establish a set of learning outcomes that they hope to achieve in the course, and through many approaches — lectures, discussions, laboratories, group exercises, written assignments, clicker questions, etc.,” Infantino said.

The university currently integrates mathematical applications into introductory biology courses while placing more emphasis on chemical biology in BSCI 105: Principles of Biology I. In addition, BSCI 207: Principles of Biology III — Organismal Biology is designed to combine physical principles of the form, function and evolution of life on earth, he said. Students can also take a life sciences version of calculus.

Despite these cross-con-

freshing, and she said participating on these trips gives her a “high” because of the generous people she’s surrounded by.

“It puts things in perspective — you’re incredibly grateful for what you have at home,” she said. “It becomes like an addiction; you start to crave it.”

Ashok said 15 to 20 students can come on the trip, and only about 10 spots are left. Applications are due Oct. 4, but the group is accepting volunteers on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Sahar Nesvaderani, who has already worked as a dental assistant for three years, said attending this trip is the last thing she wants to “get off her checklist.”

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years,” the senior be-

nections, many courses fail to pick up where others leave off, become repetitive, or have little clear relevance to life sciences, students and professors said, and the approach the university will take under NEXUS should be more comprehensive.

“Most introductory physics courses introduce physics in the context of engineering examples — cars, ramps, rockets — with a smaller number of life sciences contexts. More significantly, the physics principles that the introductory courses often include are not, in my opinion, the most relevant for pre-meds,” physics professor Wolfgang Losert said.

There is also little communication between different departments, biology professor Karen Carleton said.

“Sometimes, we don’t know what has already been covered in chemistry or physics, the depth and type of background information we must offer, and how the course fits in with nonbiology courses,” she said.

“It was not until I took my upper-level neurobiology class that I learned that the ‘voltage’ and ‘circuit’ concept we learned in physics was applicable to the human nervous system, and thus I understood the relevance and importance of taking physics as a pre-med,” says Alice He, a junior economics and physiology and neurobiology major.

However, the current curriculum is appropriate for test-taking purposes, said senior anthropol-

havioral and community health major said. “At the dental office I was working at, I spent so much time just educating kids about proper dental health care. I honestly really enjoyed that, so being

able to go to underprivileged and underserved countries and do that would make me the happiest person in the world.”

ogy and physiology and neurobiology major Anjani Kumar.

“Having taken the full spectrum of pre-medical courses offered at UMD, including PHYS 121 and PHYS 122, I believe that our current curriculum is very appropriate in terms of preparing pre-medical students for the MCAT,” Kumar said.

T h is test-d riven way of thinking is one of many challenges to the goals of NEXUS. The shift to competencybased curricula will require a “radical” adjustment in thinking, Carleton said.

This faculty training isn’t just about finding a good textbook — educators must revamp instructional materials and, more importantly, determine an appropriate measure for a student’s success.

The university plans to use grades from standardized class tests and student surveys to determine the success of the program.

“When you’re building evidence, interpreting data, and

drawing from different disciplines, a multiple choice test is not an appropriate measure to test what students have learned,” Thompson said.

Add itiona l ly, classroom changes required by a more hands-on approach — smaller-class sizes, more professors, and more classrooms — may not be feasible in the university’s budget, requiring the university to create instructional materials appropriate for all class sizes, Thompson said.

Currently, the two pilot physics for life science courses each have 24 students enrolled.

“Ideally, our students will no longer ask, ‘Why do I have to take calculus, or chemistry, or physics in order to study biolog y?’” In fa nti no sa id.

“But rather, they will be able to answer that question for themselves as they study in more interdisciplinary courses.”

COFFEE From PAGE 1

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waseem@umdbk.com

A “homey” feeling will characterize the Wi-Fi-equipped store, which will open at 7 or 8 a.m. and close around midnight, Yalcin said. Coffee prices will range from $2 to $4 per cup.

“I want people to relax and not rush,” he said.

The store will be nestled away from the congested downtown scene, which Economic Coordinator Michael Stiefvater said could make it a refuge for students seeking a calmer atmosphere.

“It’d definitely be a good place to study and maybe get away from the hustle and bustle of college,” he said. “It’s a little quieter over there.”

However, several students, like junior sociology major Ranya Bautista, said they wouldn’t make the trek to Berwyn Road, an eight-minute car ride away from the campus.

“It’s kind of out of my way,” Bautista said. “I’m content with Starbucks being here.”

But other students, including freshman elementary education major Annie Langdon, said they would welcome the convenience of an additional coffee shop.

“There can never be too many coffee shops,” she said.

customers with an exotic assortment of beans from Yemen, Turkey and various African countries. Yalcin will sell “Ceremony” coffee, a brand comprised of beans from independent growers worldwide, he said.

A coffee bar with four or five urns will let a slew of caffeine fiends self-serve from a variety of options. The menu will be small and simple, Yalcin said, emphasizing high quality coffee instead of the sugary, frozen drinks at commercial stores. Customers will also be able to pick from cold sandwiches and pastry offerings.

“It’s not going to be Starbucks,” he said. “I’m not going to have all that ‘Frappucino,’ that kind of thing.”

Yalcin’s attention to detail stems from a trend he has noticed in coffee drinkers in recent years: an increased desire to know where the beans were grown, and to extend their options beyond corporate coffee chains.

“I don’t want to hide anything,” he said. “I want to say, ‘This coffee is coming from this part of Africa and it’s roasted in this state, and foley@umdbk.com was ground at this time.’ ”

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THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Opinion

EDITORIAL BOARD

YASMEEN ABUTALEB Editor in Chief

Mike King

Managing Editor

Tyler Weyant

Managing Editor

maria romas Opinion Editor

nadav karasov

Assistant Opinion Editor

CONTACT US 3150 South Campus Dining Hall | College Park, MD 20742 | news@umdbk.com OR opinion@umdbk.com PHONE (301) 314-8200 FAX (301) 314-8358

HEAD TO HEAD

Life after 21: Will the future bring gloom or glory?

ERIK SHELL As I look back on my childhood, I often remember my young self thinking, “Being old is going to rock!”

First, let’s talk about childhood. Oh childhood, that glorious time without responsibility, just glorious freedom. Right?

Wrong. In case you forgot, when you were a kid you couldn’t drive, leave the house at night, have a conversation with your parents as equals or even make basic daily decisions yourself. You wanted freedom and money, not the joys of an 8 p.m. bedtime.

Then you went to high school — a place where everything was supposed to start making sense.

I’d be willing to bet that wasn’t the case for most readers out there. High school took the restrained, overbearing feeling of childhood and added just enough responsibility to let you see what you’re missing. Throw in a small number of crazy nights and teenage experimentation and you’ve got the “best” years of your life. I don’t buy it.

So you went to college. At least here you’d get a healthy measure of parties, independence and a fully legal driver’s license. It’s at this point you started to carve out a place for yourself, and those pesky classes kept cramping your style. Suddenly, however, independence has morphed into having to make life-altering choices. And you don’t like it.

Where does life get off, trying to impose rules on you like that? Since when did independence mean deciding the next 45 years of your life? Why can’t you just live off your paid tuition and eat your paid meal plan with no one to bug you? Because, if you do it right, the best years of life are yet to come.

Imagine this scenario instead: You spend 10 years of your life having most things done for you, 12 years putting in actual time and effort, and the

VIEW Youth and innocence cannot stack up to the freedom and endless possibilities of a fulfilling adulthood. remaining 66 years being awesome and happy?

To paraphrase a wise man, I punch those numbers into my calculator and it makes a happy face.

This magical life plan is achievable for anybody.

I don’t care what you want to do all day. From construction to nuclear engineering, if you put in a relatively short amount of time, you will reap a profit.

Now you’ve got two great things to anticipate. First, the potentially never-ending rise of fame, stardom and prestigious achievement. You can rise through the ranks, do some side work, found an organization, help millions and earn humanitarian awards. Even better, someone is going to pay you an increasing sum of money to do it. Soon, multiple people will pay you to do it and you’ll go home to your family with pockets full of cash and hugs full of love.

Second, you retire. If you don’t know, that means you don’t work anymore. At all. You have complete freedom, no work obligations, a discount at restaurants and enough life experience to know what you want to do and see. It’s like being a kid again, but without all the begrudging parts.

I know it’s hard to imagine a life longer than the one we’ve already led. But it isn’t hard to see we have infinite opportunities ahead of us and an unfathomable amount of time with which to complete them. I, for one, will grow a glorious, gray, knowledge-filled beard down to my belt buckle and teach ancient Greek history. What will you do?

Erik Shell is a sophomore classical languages and literatures and history major. He can be reached at shell@umdbk.com.

VIEW Your 21st birthday is the first day of the rest of your (adult) life, which means less fun and more responsibility.

DREW FARRELL Today is my mom’s 50th birthday. Fifty — a nice, round number we reach when we’re proverbially “over the hill.”

Her big birthday got me thinking about the nature of growing older and how we celebrate age. I’ve come to this conclusion: “Over the hill” doesn’t happen when you’re 50, but rather 21, the last birthday when you can still truly feel young.

I turned 21 last year. After much anticipation and years of waiting to go horizontal, I woke up as a 21-year-old on Dec. 31, 2011 with mixed feelings. My heart was ready to drink and celebrate like the college kid I still am today, (New Year’s Eve didn’t hurt either) but my brain started second-guessing it all. “I’m old,” was the only thought I seemed to come up with.

Twenty-one is a tiny, yet significant number.

It marks the end of adolescence and the beginning of true adulthood. It’s the end of the journey usually started in high school — scheming to get beer and a location for the weekend’s party — and continued into the “fake ID and sneaking into bars” era of early college.

Gone are the days when doing wrong out of sheer juvenile delinquency was the best way to feel right.

The problem with turning 21 is its central importance in today’s social scene. It’s the only milestone birthday that really matters to us, and therein lies the rub, because every birthday after it implies just a bit more responsibility and a bit less childhood. Every subsequent birthday, frankly, isn’t fun. Twenty-two might as well be 25, and shouldn’t you be married with a steady

job by 25? If not 25, then surely by 30, right? You’ll have kids and a house by 35 or 40 or so, the kids will be off to college around your 50th, and then they’ll start having kids when you pass 60. You get the idea.

I don’t write this to mourn the celebration of the 21st. For most people, it’s a sacred day. But to any of you about to turn 21, the feeling in the pit of your stomach — the unshakable feeling you’re actually getting older — that’s very real, and it’s a sign of things to come.

As we grow older, we start to adopt more responsibility. And as we become more responsible, we have to become more selfless. The more I think about my 21st birthday, the luckier I feel being born on New Year’s Eve. Sharing my party with the New Year meant I didn’t have to be the only one celebrating — it wasn’t only about me.

Sharing my 21st with an international celebration was accidentally my first act of selflessness in adulthood.

I went into my 21st birthday thinking only about myself, focused entirely on getting drunk or laid or both. Now, I realize how stupid that impulse was.

Twenty-first birthdays are meant to be celebrated vicariously through our friends. They’re meant to be shared and enjoyed until everyone has had one.

If we accept that turning 21 marks the end of thinking only about ourselves, then being “over the hill” doesn’t have to be all that bad. If the responsibilities of old age start to get you down, you can always just pour yourself a drink.

Drew Farrell is a senior English major. He can be reached at farrell@umdbk.com.

GUEST COLUMN

STAFF EDITORIAL

Rally behind issues of true substance

Allying beyond research

We go to one of the best universities in the country, but it is far from perfect.

Crime is a persistent problem. It can be tough navigating the bureaucratic red tape of a large state university. Lab classes are more frustrating than they need to be. I love this university, but there are ways for it to improve.

Of all the challenges facing this campus, students seem to be most concerned about one thing: food — at least according to columns I’ve read in this newspaper.

Dining Services is not only a host for culinary school dropouts, but a menace violating the first commandment of this university — thou shalt not leave the ends of thy buffalo chicken wrap open.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as frustrated with Dining Services as the average student. Underclassmen like myself living on the campus go to the dining halls on a daily basis, so errors there affect us a lot. I do think food costs too much, diners need healthier options and better hours and the new wraps are terrible.

But I do not think food defines my experience at this university. Name any issue you have with our school, and I can guarantee it hasn’t received as much attention from students as the dining hall offerings. There are so many issues on the campus students could direct their energy toward — issues affecting more than just our stomachs. If we can make so much noise about how wraps are made, why can’t we let the administration know how terrible the organic chemistry lab is? How unfair it is that access is limited to study rooms in LaPlata Hall? Issues like these should be more important than how our food tastes.

College students like to make a big deal about how we are “the future.” We proclaim we have the power to change the world. The least we can do is change our campus in a meaningful way. We are one of the most politically active campuses in the country. It is disconcerting when we use our strongest voices to question something as insignificant as the style in which food is placed on a plate. When we head into the scary place known as “real life,” will we ignore important issues because of how concerned we are with petty things?

The next time you head to a dining hall, whether you wait 30 minutes in line for pasta or grab an overpriced sandwich from the fridge, be conscious of what is important. Five years down the road, will you be proud of how you made the pasta line shorter or how you lowered the price of a sandwich? If that’s the case, then lobby Dining Services as much as you want — your fellow students might appreciate your work. But if you change the way education happens at this university, it will be fellow and future alumni who will be thanking you.

Nathan Chai is a sophomore biochemistry and government and politics major. He can be reached at nchai@terpmail.umd.edu.

I

n just the first few weeks of school, students and university officials already have plenty to boast about. The university managed to make U.S. News & World Report’s top 20 public institutions list — and nearly three-quarters of undergraduate and graduate programs were ranked top-25 in their respective fields — students are getting ready to put on a show of A Midsummer Night’s Dream both here and in China and the football team isn’t nearly as bad as anyone expected.

But remaining a top-20 school won’t be easy with dwindling funds, interim Provost Ann Wylie told The Diamondback, since officials will need more money to keep the university’s programs top-tier. Administrators have already begun hammering out detailed plans for the strategic alliance between this university and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, a pact that seeks to create collaborative programs that will benefit both universities without fully merging the two. So far, the initiatives include a joint technology transfer and commercialization institute, a seed grant program for developing cures and officials announced just this week the universities were applying for national accreditation for a joint public health school.

Although many people worried an alliance would accomplish next to nothing after months of research and discussion

— most of this university’s faculty, including university President Wallace Loh, voiced support for the merger — it looks like officials are making the most of all that hard work.

The initiatives, if carried out properly, will surely benefit both universities and hopefully help the rankings. But there still seems to be one problem: The initiatives are largely research-based and don’t seem to directly benefit undergraduate students.

OUR VIEW

The partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore, will likely boost rankings, but officials need to prove this initiative targets the needs of undergraduates as well.

We understand being part of such a large institution means a significant portion, if not most, of the university’s funds have to go toward, well, research. But much of the university’s appeal to prospective students comes from top-ranked undergraduate programs, which shouldn’t be forgotten as officials devise collaborations over the next few months and years.

Wylie said the university very well may

struggle to stay atop the rankings with the current funding. “Our financial and faculty resources have fallen in the past few years,” she said, adding, “You can see how many private schools are in the top rankings nationally because of their resources. We will never advance without additional resources.”

The alliance is clearly still in the early planning stages, but thus far, all of the projects discussed have primarily involved research, graduate students or faculty. Initiatives specifically targeted toward undergraduates should be a priority, especially if millions of dollars are already being doled out to other university projects. During forums on the alliance, officials discussed potentially creating easier pathways for students hoping to go to law school, medical school or other graduate programs, but we’ve heard little about such programs since.

Clearly, the aim of many of these projects is to boost the university’s rankings — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing in itself. A problem emerges when the needs of students — who should always remain the university’s absolute top priority — get left behind in the quest to climb to the top. Maybe there are undergraduate initiatives in the works, but if so, we need to hear more about them. And if officials don’t address students soon, students will lose their interest in the entire alliance — if they haven’t already.

EDITORIAL CARTOON JOEY LOCKWOOD/the diamondback

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 | THE DIAMONDBACK

5

Features

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Goat cheese 5 French clerics 10 Movie theater 14 Bearded flower 15 Jeweler’s lens 16 Crow’s-nest cry 17 Lavish party 18 Bamboo stalks 19 Took the trolley 20 Quad antecedents 22 Fled 24 Word of disgust 25 Gold Medal org.

26 Party decoration 30 Tiled artworks 34 Stage award 35 Fraught 37 Lath 38 Sudbury’s prov.

39 Itinerary word 40 Square root of IX 41 Have to have 43 State Farm competitor 45 Merit 46 Quick trips 48 Husky (2 wds.)

50 Earth, in combos 51 Luau welcome 52 Illustrations 56 Veined 60 Corrida sight 61 “Star Trek” regular 63 Lounge around 64 Toast topper 65 “In” crowd

66 Unbleached-linen color 67 Answered a judge 68 Allotted 69 Octopus habitats

47 Recent (pref.)

49 Constantly, to Poe 52 Up above

53 Coffee-break treat 54 Leaf source 55 Metric pound

56 Dust particle 57 Feature of many a wedding dress

DOWN 1 Hollow fruits 2 Was, to Ovid 3 Shower liner 4 Most of the time (3 wds.)

5 Vodka or gin 6 Glamorous wraps 7 Severe hairdo 8 Dueler’s sword 9 Conference part 10 Venezuela city 11 Flapjack chain 12 Leaf juncture 13 Peered at 21 Id companion 23 Variety of lettuce 26 Folk hero from Kentucky 27 Yokum lad 28 Quart, plus 29 Cathedral parts 30 Financial resources 31 Old Greek epic 32 View from Giza 33 Undercover job 36 Morse code signal 42 Blondie’s hubby 43 Made lovelier 44 Eased 45 Groceries

© 2012 United Features Syndicate

PREVIOUS DAY’s puzzle solved:

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B

HOROSCOPE STELLA WILDER

orn today, you are one of the most eager, lively and exciting individuals born under your sign, and even when you are not pursuing an important goal you are simply enjoying life so very much that you serve as an example to all around you.

Indeed, if there is one leaf that others can and should take out of your book it is an overall enthusiasm; you simply enjoy each and every day -- and even when things happen that may seem negative in the extreme, you are able to find something positive about it to hang on to in order to progress and prevail.

You seem, in some way, to be tapped in to a source of wisdom that others are not privy to; you know a great many things that others do not know. Your overall sense of the world is far more balanced and comprehensive than that enjoyed by most others.

Also born on this date are: Avril Lavigne, singer; Gwyneth Paltrow, actress; Shaun Cassidy, actor and singer; Meat Loaf, singer and actor; Wilford Brimley, actor; Arthur Penn, director; William Conrad, actor; Jayne Meadows, actress.

To see what is in store for you tomorrow, find your birthday and read the corresponding paragraph. Let your birthday star be your daily guide.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -Your routine is likely to be upset by an unexpected development,

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but your adjustments can be swift and effective.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Take care that your attempt to use humor to defuse a situation doesn’t backfire! Some may not appreciate your kind of joke.

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You won’t have to alert the authorities, but rather offer a word of warning.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You’ve been allotted a certain amount of time to get something done, so don’t shortchange yourself; use it all -- and get it done right.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- You are recovering nicely from an emotional upset -- but there are certain issues arising that will require your sensitive attention.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You can expect others to react strongly to your suggestions today, whether in favor or against.

You can rally support in a clever way.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You have to say something to a friend that you’ve been avoiding

for some time -- but this may be your last opportunity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You’ll be delivering certain messages to others throughout the day, but don’t neglect to check your own inbox occasionally!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -You may have to tone down your displeasure today before letting anyone know how you really feel.

Keep your reaction proportional.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -You have several obstacles to get past today before you reach your final destination, and your means of travel may be unconventional.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You may be far too concerned with what others are doing right now, and not focused squarely enough on your own principal endeavors.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Now is no time to mouth off to anyone -- whether or not he or she is in charge. Keep your opinions to yourself for the time being.

COPYRIGHT 2012 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.

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THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Diversions

GAME OVER

ON THE BLOG

Video game movies have always been the lowest of the low when it comes to film quality and profits, but it doesn’t have to be that way, according to senior staff writer Warren Zhang. For more, visit umdbk.com.

PREVIEW | A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

BREAK A LEG

The cast and crew of CSPAC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream — both Chinese and American — gear up for the night of their lives

By Beena Raghavendran Staff writer

Halpern. The music has a bluesy, rock ‘n’ roll vibe to it that emphasizes American roots and culture, O’Loughlin said. It also provides a seamless transition in and out of the Shakespearean language, Leidy said.

In addition to the global collaboration, the American actors in the show have had challenging elements added to their roles.

The four fairy characters had to master aerial silk work, which involves graceful movement on silks hanging from the theater’s ceiling.

The Chinese cast had rehearsed with fairy stand-ins before coming to this university and taught the American cast parts of the dances when they arrived on the campus about two weeks ago, Lynch said.

Chinese dances and theater emphasize the differences between Asian and

American forms, said Li Jiaqiu, who is playing Helena. The Chinese value the importance of every movement on stage, which stems from the impact of the Beijing Opera. They communicated this idea beautifully to the American actresses playing the fairies at rehearsal, Lynch said.

“I’ve never been in such a creative process that was so infused with joy and pure generosity and appreciation for the work in the room everyone was doing,” Lynch said.

Two Saturdays ago, before the group started a rehearsal, Lynch said the American director Mitchell Hébert reminded the cast of the perspective.

“Mitch said, ‘Just think for a moment – you guys met a week ago,’” Lynch said, as she and several of her cast members lunched in CSPAC’s faculty lounge last week. Chinese

cast members walked by to hellos and hugs from the American cast.

Bartlebaugh, a sophomore English and theatre major, said the pieces of the show came together for her at a recent rehearsal in a scene when the fairies have to protect Titania, the fairy queen. Bartlebaugh said she felt a sudden overwhelming need to protect Sun Shangqi, the Chinese actress playing Titania, reflecting the power of the play.

“Being in this show has sort of restored my faith in humanity,” Bartlebaugh said.

She said an urgent need to communicate rose between the groups and caused instant bonding.

“I don’t know you, I can’t talk to you, but I love you,” she said. raghavendran@umdbk.com

H E T F O T U e past? to th ow nd wi

Do nos talg ia p ro du

sal to live in th e pr a refu t n ese e s e nt r p e or r s a t c

RE TU

BAC K

Shane O’Loughlin feverishly texted everyone he knew. Anna Lynch got his text message while in a car in downtown Washington with Emma Lou Hébert. They freaked out to the point that cars started honking at them.

Javier del Pilar sprinted to the callboard, running and jumping in joy. Alex Leidy screamed like a little schoolgirl.

Riley Bartlebaugh and Matthew Strote ran through the courtyard of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center screaming, “We’re going to China!”

The same excitement the cast members of A Midsummer Night’s Dream felt on the day they’d been cast echoed just as strongly months later, when they went into their technical rehearsals.

“I still feel that,” said Lynch, a senior theatre major, as she reflected on the initial adrenaline-infused euphoria of posting of the cast list. “This couldn’t happen anywhere else.”

Leidy, a senior theatre major who is an understudy and ensemble member in the show, said by this point in the rehearsal process, the show often becomes a pain for cast members.

However, for this cast, the show is anything but.

“This is the coolest show,” said O’Loughlin, a senior theatre major playing Francis Flute. “There’s sword fights, backflips and aerial silk work.

It’s such an honor not only to be part of this explosive production but to be working with this group of people.”

The Rude Mechanicals play music originally composed by Maryland alum ni Aaron Bliden and Mark

PRO | NOSTALGIA IS A HARMLESS COMFORT

CON | NOSTALGIA IS A REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE REALITY

By Dean Essner Staff writer

By Alicia McElhaney For The Diamondback

There are few human emotions as visceral and real as nostalgia. And while it’s sometimes a morale-lacerating curse to carry with us such a vast Rolodex of memories, feeding the obsession with small, tangible items that invoke the romanticism of the past may help dissolve the layer of disdain we associate with the much murkier present.

The concept behind a nostalgia product — such as the corded iPhone plug-in that reminds us, in vivid detail, of dad ordering pizzas or pestering overanxious telemarketers while coiling that iconic, plastic wiring around his fingers — is to remind us that we can still be both happily aware of and in-touch with the simplicity of our childhoods while staying grounded in the now. Growing up and facing the realities of adulthood are daunting prospects. Sometimes it’s nice to have a taste of the past in our back pockets that we can sprinkle in our drinks whenever necessary.

For me, the ultimate nostalgia product is music on vinyl. Even more powerful than a memory I was born too late to have is a memory that has been passed down to me by the people I turn to for love and comfort. When I stumbled upon my dad’s old record collection in a broken cardboard box deep in the basement of my home, I felt as though I had unearthed every important secret from the past. Even the texture of the albums themselves — mostly smooth but bumpy in distinct places to signify the changes in song — was indicative of its modern existence as an analog relic in a misguided, digital era. The mystery was too infectious and perfect to be real.

But I realized what made this object so fascinating and glittery in my eyes was that it transported me out of the present and into the past that seemed, by sheer intuition, much sweeter than anything I had ever experienced. That’s why I’ve come to this conclusion: If nostalgia, in physical form, exists to make us pine for what’s already been in comparison to what’s happening now, then we might as well call upon it to make our days a little bit brighter if need be.

“History repeats itself,” or so the saying goes. But what happens when history repeats itself one too many times?

This seems to be the case when it comes to the recent trend of nostalgia obsession. People today are snapping up relics of the past faster than you can say “Nintendo.” Think corded phones, Gameboy Advance systems and Polaroid cameras — while they seem fun at first, these gadgets are unnecessary and, at times, obnoxious.

Take, for example, the retro phone handset, a convenient iPhone plug-in that simulates the use of a corded phone just like the one mom used. Inconvenient at best, this gadget takes up space and tangles easily — not quite the image of utility.

The upside? Internet research points to one thing: attention. Apparently, users love the looks they receive when they pull the vintage handset out of their purse instead of a their shiny new iPhone.

These stares, though, are certainly those of disbelief, rather than envy. The superfluity of such a gadget is astounding, and yet we keep buying into it.

Another throwback favorite comes in the form of the iTypewriter: You guessed it, a typewriter that allows users to type on their iPads. Who hasn’t dreamed of sitting down to type his memoir or great dissertation on an old relic like the typewriter? Yet there is something lost in translation when the paper becomes a lit screen and the ink on the pages is merely the Helvetica font in which an eager hipster chose to write his angsty blog posts.

These revitalized old technologies just scratch the surface when it comes to nostalgia obsession. So many bands have re-released and remastered older albums, while products like the Supaboy (a portable pocket Super Nintendo console) make it possible to play old favorites on the go.

It seems that we are left wanting mixtapes and Polaroid photos of the past, but is that what we really want? We can hardly spend five minutes away from our smartphones — actually submitting to these old technologies would cause panic among users.

It seems, then, that these relics are more of a status symbol than anything else. We show off by remembering the days when we did not have the technology we do today.

While it is nice to look back, it is imperative we remember how far we’ve come. If we do that, going back to the past definitely will be the least of our desires.

essner@umdbk.com

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2EVEN THURSDAY, september 27, 2012 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

THE DIAMONDBACK THE DIAMONDBACK | XXXDAY, | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER AUGUST XX, 31, 20127

NOTEBOOK

HARPER

From PAGE 8

From PAGE 8

thought he did a good job, but there are things he needs to do to get better.”

An extra week should help. The Terps are off this weekend and will begin their ACC schedule at home against Wake Forest on Oct. 6.

“There’s so many things we need to improve upon,” Hills said. “Getting better protection, getting rid of the ball faster, just small things we need to work on to get better.”

NOT SATISFIED

Coach Randy Edsall said yesterday he would “like to have more wins.” charlie deboyace/the diamondback

Edsall has seen his Terps make significant strides the past few weeks.

After all, the team that nearly upset the Mountaineers on Saturday was hardly the same squad that squeaked past William & Mary earlier this month.

But that doesn’t mean the secondyear coach is satisfied. Edsall said yesterday during the weekly ACC coaches teleconferences that he would “like to have more wins.” Although he has noticed marked improvement weekto-week, he knows his team will need to continue to get better to compete in a crowded ACC this year.

“We’re not happy with what our record is,” Edsall said. “We just need to keep going out there and keep working hard each and every day in

O’DONNELL From PAGE 8 a question of ‘will I take the job?’

It was always, ‘please, can I do it?’”

It’s b e e n a n a t u ra l f it.

O ’ D o n n e l l , w h o c o n s i ders Meharg a close friend, brings a unique perspective to the coaching staff. Just one month removed from playing in London, she fully understands what it takes to compete at the sport’s highest level.

“It’s pretty comfortable to have her out here doing the assistant coaching,” Meharg

practice to get better.”

A few days off during the Terps’ bye week should prove helpful. The team will practice Wednesday and Thursday before resuming its regular in-season practice schedule Sunday to prepare for the Demon Deacons.

Edsall said yesterday the bye week comes at an ideal time for a young squad still overcoming an early season rash of injuries. The Terps already got all their nonconference games out of the way and will now use the time off to regroup before beginning conference play.

“If we need to make any changes within our starting lineups,” Edsall said, “it gives us some extra time to get those guys that are going to be in

said. “It just lends to our training practices so well. She’s so natural, and she sees things the way she did as a player.”

T hat i nsig ht is perhaps O’Donnell’s greatest strength as a coach. Still active on the international circuit — she leaves for Dublin later this week to compete with the national team in the Field Hockey Champions Challenge — O’Donnell routinely participates during scrimmages in practice with the Terps.

And when the face of Maryland field hockey steps onto the field, workouts rise to a new level of intensity.

those positions some extra work.”

BRIGHAM WITHDRAWS Guard Nick Brigham has withdrawn from the university for personal reasons, a team spokesman said yesterday.

The freshman did not appear in the Terps’ first four games and did not travel with the team to West Virginia last weekend.

Brigham began the season as the Terps’ backup left guard and was not included on the depth chart after junior Josh Cary returned from a knee injury three weeks ago. letourneau@umdbk.com vitale@umdbk.com

“She pushes us to take the next step because she’s on the field with us kicking our butts every day, just like she did as a player,” said midfielder Janessa Pope, who played alongside O’Donnell for her first two years with the Terps. “When you play against her, you got to go hard or she’s going to school you.”

But O’Donnell’s ability on the field is just part of what she brings to the Terps’ coaching staff. While she has no problem running sprints with the team or helping with on-field drills, O’Donnell also helps the squad in a way she was never able to in her four-year college career —

obsessed — with the sport.

“Sarah went everywhere with [Samantha] and she always had a volleyball with her,” said Becky Swartz, Ha rper’s mother. “She a lways wanted to play, and she would hit with whoever would hit with her.”

And when Samantha — who is five years older than Sarah — earned a spot on Division III Mary Washington’s volleyball team, Harper’s goal became clear.

“As soon as she started playing on the college level I was like, ‘I want to do that,’” Harper said. “I wanted to be a Division I player and play in the ACC.” After spending much of her youth attending nearby University of Virginia’s camps and clinics, Harper figured the Cavaliers could be an option for her. But Virginia, which doesn’t typically recruit local talent, never showed interest.

So she landed with the Terps, one of the nearest ACC schools. All it took for her to choose College Park was an email from the Terps’ coaching staff asking her to join the program.

Now, three years removed from accepting her Terps scholarship offer, Harper has emerged as a leader on a young squad that’s won four of its past five matches.

by observing.

Meharg is the coach who stops play when she sees something wrong; O’Donnell is the coach who notices the little things, pulling players aside and breaking things down to help them sharpen their skills.

“On the field, I never really felt vulnerable with her,” midfielder Megan Frazer said. “It’s the same way now. It’s a level of expectation. She’s seen us play at our best, and for me personally, I know she expects a certain level from me because she’s seen the best that I can play. If I’m not giving it, she’ll be like, ‘What’s wrong? Are you tired or what? Why aren’t you performing?’”

That’s why Meharg has no

CAVALIERS From PAGE 8 atmosphere and the intensity of the match, but we’re not going to put a ton of stock into the rankings,” Morgan said.

“There are a lot more games to be played.”

The fi rst of those games will come against a Virginia team that, while ranked in the top 10, hasn’t faced the level of competition the Terps (7-2-2, 3-0-1 ACC) have. The Cavaliers (9-1-1, 2-0-1) have only faced two ranked teams so far

“I’ve looked up to her from the start,” defensive specialist Kaitlyn King said. “She just has the best work ethic for a player.”

Harper’s work habits have led to some gaudy statistics. But in volleyball, like in most sports, quality defensive players are often overlooked.

So naturally, Harper’s ascent up the Terps’ record books has been a quiet one. It’s easy to forget she has the eighth most digs in school history, and is on track to smash the program’s all-time record next year.

But that hardly means Harper’s presence isn’t felt.

“I would categorize Sarah as a leader-by-example type kid,” Horsmon said. “Very few days, if any, can I remember her not being one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker, on the floor.”

Harper used those work habits to adjust to a new position last year. She used them to break a school record. And she used them to establish a reputation as one of the ACC’s premier defenders.

The only question remaining is, where will those habits take her the rest of her career?

“Now that I’ve kind of set a baseline for myself and I know that I can improve, I try to get every dig, every ball off the floor,” Harper said.

“There’s no more excuses.” kasinitz@umdbk.com

problem envisioning O’Donnell leading her own Division I field hockey program someday. But, until then, there’s still so much more O’Donnell wants to accomplish on the turf.

A f te r h e l p i n g t h e U. S . capture a stunning win over No. 1 Argentina in the finals of the 2011 Pan-A merican Games, O’Donnell made her first Olympics appearance this summer. And even though the U.S. missed the medal podium and finished a disappointing 1-4, O’Donnell already has her sights set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

“The outcome from these Olympics was really unfortunate, and it kind of put sunglasses on my face toward

the Olympics in a sad way,” she said. “But once I can look through that and see the cool people I met, the opportunities I had and the lasting memories — it would be a pretty cool opportunity to play in Rio, too.”

Meharg expects nothing less out of her student assistant coach. And why not? After all, O’Donnell is used to fi nishing on top.

“I always think that when you don’t reach the goals that you’ve set, it gives you a bigger opportunity to grow, and I think that’s where the U.S. is right now,” the 25th-year coach said. “I see her playing for a long, long time.”

this season — a 3-1 loss to No. 8 Penn State and a 2-2 tie with North Carolina. “ V i rg i n i a i s V i rg i n i a ,” Morgan said. “They are a very talented team, a very skillful team. People watch Virginia and say it’s very pretty soccer.

They have a reputation that’s national. But we’ve done our scouting report and our walkthrough and we’re in a good place right now. We are prepared for this.”

They’ll have to be. The Cavaliers are the second top-10 team the Terps will have faced in the past week. And while they tied

Duke, 2-2, in double overtime a week ago, the Terps will need to beat Virginia if they want to keep their ACC lead.

And, of course, improve that little number they fi nally have next to their name again.

“Virginia’s a huge opponent for us,” goalkeeper Rachelle Beanlands said. “We’re really focused. We’re just adjusting how we’re going to play so we can break them down and shut them out. We need to play our best against our ranked opponents.”

munson@umdbk.com

egan@umdbk.com

TWEET OF THE DAY Jake Layman @JLayman10 Terps men’s basketball forward

“Good practice tonight, excited for Maryland Maddness and thanks to @nickfaustLIVE for the shoutout #terpnation”

Sports

LACROSSE CHANGES RULES

ON THE BLOG

The NCAA approved men’s lacrosse rules changes, including the addition of a shot clock. For more, visit umdbk.com.

PAGE 8

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

FOOTBALL | NOTEBOOK

Hills showing improvement Edsall not satisfied with record; lineman withdraws

By Connor Letourneau and Josh Vitale Senior staff writers

Quarterback perry hills completed 20 passes for a career-best 305 yards in the Terps’ loss to West Virginia. charlie deboyace/the diamondback

Perry Hills seemed destined for a rough outing Saturday.

After an up-and-down fi rst three games, the freshman Terrapins football quarterback was facing No. 8 West Virginia in front of a hostile crowd of nearly 60,000 at Milan Puskar Stadium.

But Hills didn’t rattle. In fact, he had easily the best showing of his young career, completing 20 of 29 throws for 305 yards and three touchdowns.

“When you get around Perry, and you see his demeanor and his competitiveness and his heart and his passion and his ability to be a team guy, you just know a guy like that is going to rebound from some setbacks,” coach Randy Edsall said after the team’s 31-21 loss to the Mountaineers.

“That is the thing — he is a tough guy. He is just

a tough guy that wants to do well.”

It was a far cry from his previous week’s performance. Hills completed just 10 of 24 passes for 109 yards and one touchdown, and committed two turnovers in a 24-21 loss to Connecticut. He never seemed comfortable in the pocket, and the Huskies sacked him six times.

That all changed against West Virginia. He managed to remain poised despite getting sacked five times — he was hit so hard near the end of the first half that he had to sit out a play. Hills completed passes to six different receivers, and other than a fi rst-quarter fumble, his only turnover came on a desperation heave on fourth and 21 late in the game.

“We have to protect him better; we didn’t protect him well enough today,” Edsall said. “I

VOLLEYBALL

WOMEN’S SOCCER

DIG IN

After 28 days, Terps back in national poll

After switching positions, Harper on track to smash Terps’ digs record

No. 18 team hosts No. 7 Virginia at Ludwig Field

By Aaron Kasinitz Staff writer

By Erin Egan Senior staff writer

Sarah Harper was apprehensive when Terrapins volleyball coach Tim Horsmon approached her about switching positions after the 2010 season.

After all, Harper was a scoring specialist.

The outside hitter set the all-time kills record at Western Albemarle High School in Crozet, Va., and notched 20 kills her freshman year in College Park. She loved the thrill of spiking the ball over the net, of earning key points for her team.

But at 5-foot-4, Harper was hardly a prototypical offensive threat. She was easily the smallest player on the Terps’ roster, at least 2 inches shorter than any of her teammates. Horsmon figured her unique combination of size and athleticism made her an ideal candidate to play defense, so he asked her to move to libero — a defensive position prohibited from tallying kills.

And though Harper wasn’t thrilled about the switch, she agreed with her coach’s request.

“Initially, I really missed hitting,” Harper said. “But there’s a point where you just got to do what you got to do to make the team better.”

It was a seamless transition for Harper. In her sophomore campaign last year, she didn’t simply contribute. She didn’t just fi nish fi fth in the ACC in service aces.

She set the single-season school record with 569 digs.

“I think her skill set was already pretty good to be a libero, so I don’t think the transition was that tough for her,” Horsmon said. “She’s probably going to break the all-time [digs] record here, and I think that’s a testament to how hard she’s worked at this.”

T hat work eth ic is the by product of a passion for volleyball Harper developed at an early age. While growing up in Charlottesville, Va., Harper tagged along at camps, clinics and tournaments with her older sister, Samantha. She became fascinated — even See HARPER, Page 7

See NOTEBOOK, Page 7

The Terrapins women’s soccer team started its season ranked No. 13, but since then it’s been a downward tumble. The Terps fell to No. 17 after a few early stumbles, and they were eventually knocked out of the top 25 all together.

For nearly a month, the Terps have had to play without that coveted number next to their name. When they stepped onto the field against the likes of No. 4 Duke, then-No. 6 North Carolina and No. 15 Wake Forest, they did so as just another unranked opponent.

But in all of those games, the Terps showed they deserved to stand among the nation’s best, defeating the Tar Heels, tying Duke and besting the Demon Deacons in a span of 10 days.

Now, after three weeks of clawing their way back into the national polls, the Terps have a number next to their name again. When they host No. 7 Virginia tonight, they’ll do so as the No. 18 team in the country.

“We’re really happy to be on that list,” coach Jonathan Morgan said.

“Any time you fall in the top 25 in the country, it’s an important measurement to see how you’re doing and it’s very important for recruiting.”

They can’t stop battling now, though.

The Terps are alone atop the ACC standings with 10 points, but the Cavaliers’ seven points are close behind in second.

And now that they’re back in the national spotlight, there’s pressure for them to stay there.

“Obviously it’s going to add to the Libero Sarah Harper set a new Terps single-season record with 569 digs last season. She also led the team in service aces. file photo/the diamondback

See CAVALIERS, Page 7

FIELD HOCKEY

Back where she belongs

After illustrious Terps playing career, former forward O’Donnell returns to team as student assistant coach

By Nicholas Munson Staff writer Ne a rly t wo y e a rs a go, K a t i e O’Donnell played her final game with the Terrapins field hockey team.

She helped her squad to a 3-2 win over archrival North Carolina in the National Championship game. She hoisted the golden trophy with her teammates on their home field in College Park. And she finished her college career with the ACC points record.

It was a fitting end to an illustrious career for the Norristown, Pa., native.

Any piece of national acclaim — two national titles, two National Player of the Year honors, two Honda Sports Awards — belonged to O’Donnell.

Soon after, she left College Park.

She was off to achieve her dream, to play for the U.S. National Team in the Pan-American Games and — eventually — in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

But now she’s back.

One of the most decorated players in field hockey history, O’Donnell is determined to learn all she can from the most decorated coach in the sport, Missy Meharg. She serves as a student

assistant coach while finishing up an undergraduate degree in family science. Due to her intensive training schedule with the U.S. National Team — at 16, she became the youngest person to ever make the squad — O’Donnell has missed five semesters of classes since 2007.

“For me, it’s almost like an internship to get to understand what the coaching lifestyle is like and seeing the ins and outs of things,” O’Donnell said of her new position. “It was never See O’Donnell, Page 7

FORMER forward Katie O’Donnell is back with the Terps program as a student assistant coach. She played her last game for the team in 2010, when the Terps won the national championship. charlie deboyace/the diamondback