4
THE DIAMONDBACK | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2012
Opinion
YASMEEN ABUTALEB Editor in Chief
EDITORIAL BOARD
Mike King
Managing Editor
Expectations and actualities Unfair university policies infringing on students
M
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
STAFF EDITORIAL
GUEST COLUMN
any freshmen start their undergraduate careers eager to do big things; far fewer expect to have the university squander their aspirations. My freshman year turned out to be an extremely trying experience and a far cry from the party lifestyle I expected. I enrolled at this university mainly because of the Individual Studies Program, which enables students to create their own majors. After creating a four-year coursework plan for an entrepreneurship major, I took my curriculum to the Individual Studies Program office. Abruptly, I was denied; the major I wanted to create was “not diverse enough.” Even if it were, I would have to enroll in classes within the business school, which apparently is a big no-no for nonbusiness majors. To this day I still haven’t been assigned an adviser and have figured out every single issue of my schedule and fouryear plan, which include engineering, a minor and honors requirements, entirely by myself. But this university’s apathy toward student needs goes beyond academics. One October night, I was with a friend who, unbeknownst to me, had prior incidents with marijuana. After a few minutes, police knocked on his dorm door. I watched as the student was arrested for possession and taken to jail. I myself hadn’t done anything wrong and trusted the school to recognize that. I answered all questions honestly and even surrendered my university ID to the resident assistant who told me word for word, “Hey, you are going to be fine.” I was in no legal trouble whatsoever, but I ended up sitting through three condemnatory
Tyler Weyant
meetings with school officials. In all of these, it was stated that I had no part in any rule breaking, but the university seemingly did not want to accept that I am a good kid. They kept pushing for extra meetings to reassess the situation and determine my punishment. This university takes marijuana seriously: If found guilty of any marijuana-related charges, students may face immediate housing termination, ineligibility to hold a position in any organization, drug testing at the expense of the student and likely suspension. During the final meeting, I was in a conference room and everything I said was recorded as if I was a criminal. The truth stood and I was acquitted, but it is easy to see how this series of events, lasting from October until the first week of finals of my very first college semester, was exceedingly stressful for me. Through this experience, I’ve learned this university does not seem to care much at all about its students. But I figured out ways to incorporate some business classes into my schedule and started teaching myself about entrepreneurship, finance and management, because if my school isn’t willing to facilitate my learning (even for some $30,000 a year), I’ll do it myself. The lack of support and care from this university made me tactful in achieving things I want, as well as much more self-motivated and willing. Take this story to heart and learn to take your college life into your own hands.
Stores’ new selling point
B
y the beginning of next year, you could have the opportunity to find all of your weekly necessities in one place — your bananas, chips, paper towels, Franzia and Natty Lite could all be accessible at your College Park grocery store. College Park City Council members voted 6-0 in favor of a plan allowing more grocery stores in the city to receive liquor licenses, and providing the state legislature approves the measure when it reconvenes in January, your errand days could be cut short. In light of the vacant and rundown buildings that continue to line the streets surrounding this university, this initiative could open the door for new businesses and force established stores to improve their appeal. With more places for students and College Park residents to purchase alcohol, shops would run the risk of failing if they refused to become more competitive. On the surface, the decision seems to contradict the city’s broader efforts to limit alcohol abuse and underage drinking. Last year, University Police received a $30,000 grant to stem the flood of underage drinking, and the council dutifully revoked Thirsty Turtle’s liquor license after its notoriously sketchy age requirement enforcement. It may seem odd the City Council would encourage further distribution of alcohol. But as District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich pointed out, “People who are underage are already [drinking] currently. Making it available in
Alex Anschuetz is a sophomore engineering major. He can be reached at ana369@terpmail.umd.edu.
grocery stores will not change that.” Students will find liquor anywhere and everywhere they can. Outside of closing every liquor store in a 10-mile radius, underage drinking will persist at some level on the campus. Viewing the distribution of alcohol as unwaveringly negative will only lead this city to lag economically and subvert efforts toward improving the city. Yes, downtown bars tend to be associated with underage drinking. But as this approval by the
OUR VIEW
Permitting more grocery stores to sell beer and wine could help the city image, and we hope the state legislature enables it. council members shows, not all alcoholrelated endeavors are created equal. This editorial board believes it’s important for College Park to progress in order for our university to appeal to prospective students (and their parents) and improve the atmosphere for everyone here now. Fortunately, if Tuesday’s College Park City Council vote is any indication, these signs of progress may soon turn into greater prosperity. Granting liquor licenses to grocery stores encourages greater competition among local businesses and will likely attract other shops to the area — representatives from Harris Teeter have already expressed interest in opening up a location, given it receives a license. With the closest grocery store more
than two miles away from the campus, a high-quality grocery option closer to students would have a tremendous impact. As the local economy continues to lack the vibrancy you would expect from a college town, removing barriers to entry for prospective businesses seems like a no-brainer. While a city with streets full of liquor stores can often be a sign of a financially-strained community, providing liquor licenses to quality grocery stores is essential if this city hopes to attract any high-end, community-friendly shops. Aligning the needs of the community with local businesses will allow both the city and stores to stay competitive. Not to mention, diverse and accessible food options will make this university more attractive for prospective students and faculty alike. We commend the progressive nature of this initiative and the council members who appear intent on being agents — rather than roadblocks — of future development in this instance. Making it easier for businesses to operate and facilitating the growth of local commerce should be one of the chief objectives of any city council, and we’re happy to see that this time, for College Park, it is. Hopefully, this trend continues and council members remain committed to these aims. The College Park City Council as a whole has displayed conservative sentiments about potential commercial projects — most recently with the plans for the Maryland Book Exchange development. Conservative sentiments are fine, as long as businesses still have the opportunity to succeed in this city. With this vote, grocery stores now have that chance.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
Awesome atonement When we see our mistakes laid out before us, we decide either to punish ourselves or try unsuccessfully to ignore them
MATT RICE On Tuesday, a new set of Hebrew books in the pews of Memorial Chapel sparked my curiosity. I guessed they were for Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that occurred Tuesday evening through Wednesday. I realized I knew next to nothing about this holiday (so take my observations with a grain of salt), so I began a quest to learn more. Maybe it’s due to Christianity’s Jewish roots — or maybe repentance is a characteristic of human nature that every religion must address — but everything I learned about this “Day of Atonement” seemed quite familiar. The process by which one repents, teshuva, especially resonated with me. I learned the first step of teshuva is regret. When we think about regret, an image of a miserable person wallowing in self-pity often comes to mind. To escape this suffocating form of regret, some people turn to relativism, which denies the existence of any universal truth. Instead, people design their own “truths,” conveniently circumventing sin and the accompanying regret. While it may sound tempting, the idea of multiple truths is simply not based in reality. Common sense tells us that ultimately, there can only be one truth. Relativism’s promise of freedom is empty because only the truth can set us free. To regret our sins does not mean beating ourselves up about them, but rather realizing the freeing truth: We all mess up. So what do we do with this knowledge? Suppose you are driving somewhere and realize you are going the wrong way — what do you do? Obviously, you turn the car around. Likewise, the only logical response to realizing our true guilt is the second step in teshuva: to stop sinning. This can be difficult as the flow of traffic
pushes us along, but even a brief pause at a stoplight can be enough to regain control and resolve to turn around. But simply turning isn’t enough; the third step of teshuva helps us put our mistakes behind us by confessing them verbally. During Yom Kippur, this is done with the Al Cheyt prayer, which asks forgiveness for a variety of sins. Christianity offers the same opportunity. Earlier this week at “Together,” Christians from many campus ministries joined in confessing to sinning in “thought, word, and deed,” a prayer quite similar to the “Confiteor” prayer recited at Catholic Mass. Communal confession prayers stress our fallible human nature and prompt improvement. Yet for Catholics, it doesn’t stop there. Like the day of atonement ceremony prescribed in the Old Testament — when the Jewish high priest whispers his sins to a sacrificial goat — Catholics are called to confess our sins verbally to Jesus (the unblemished Lamb of God) through his visible representation (a priest). Revealing our mistakes can be difficult, as the process tends to make them more real. However, when we see our failures for what they really are, it is clear that with God’s grace, they can be defeated. The final requirement for forgiveness is to resolve to not sin again. We all are bound to fall, but if we casually make the same mistakes, then we have learned nothing. This final step simply requires us to “firmly resolve, with the help of God’s grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.” Ever since reembracing confession last year, I’ve enjoyed striving for excellence and repenting for mistakes as needed (often). I’m convinced repenting, and therefore Yom Kippur, is awesome. I hope all our Jewish Terps had a good one. Matt Rice is a sophomore engineering and materials science major. He can be reached at rice@umdbk.com.
JAKE STEINER/the diamondback
Panda panic proves problematic Pay attention to larger issues, not just the trivial things JOSHUA DOWLING Like many others, I was saddened to learn of the death of the baby panda at the National Zoo over the weekend. Story after story in The Washington Post helped sate my need to read about baby pandas, and helped me make sense of the tragic loss. Status after status on Facebook mourned the passing, with one friend writing, “I hope mama panda will be ok :( ...I keep thinking about her over my homework!” I can’t help but worry for that friend’s homework — I know it’s impossible to get work done when you’re consumed with thoughts of pandas. After a half-hour or so of reading similar expressions of grief, I realized I was over it. If we’re being honest, I don’t know that I care about baby pandas. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly depressing the baby panda died — especially considering the precarious nature of the world’s panda population —
but there are more important things going on in the world that we should think about, too. On Monday night, we saw a similar outpouring of passion and sadness on Facebook and Twitter as football fans struggled to understand just how NFL referees could suck so much. Presidents, would-be presidents and governors alike all had their moments in the sun, chastising the NFL for the referee foul-up. Piling on the referees was almost certainly the most popular thing Mitt Romney has ever done. (I would have joined him, but I don’t really understand football — or much of anything, really.) In all of this hullabaloo, we’re losing sight of what’s truly important. How many people, upon hearing of the baby panda, worried for the decline of the panda population, or for the extinction of any species? When discussing the referee scandal, how many of us pinned the referees’ struggle as a union issue? How many of us watch football with an actual concern for the health and well-being of those playing the sport, or those enforcing the rules? When did these things actually start to concern the whole country?
As a country, I think we’ve stopped prioritizing things that really matter. Instead of talking about important national issues such as education, the economy and poverty, we’re all too willing to abandon these serious discussions in favor of worrying ourselves too much about pandas and referees. As a nation in the midst of an election year, we’re facing a monumental choice in divergent ideas, candidates and visions for our future. How can we make such important decisions when we spend so much time fretting about pandas and referees? How many of the same people also go around saying, “I don’t know anything about politics; I’m not going to vote.” There are complex and critical problems facing our nation — and the world — and we’re never going to get closer to solving them if we can’t get past the Style and Sports sections of The Washington Post. We must try harder to understand why things matter, so we as a country can take action on what matters. Joshua Dowling is a senior government and politics and history major. He can be reached at dowling@umdbk.com.
POLICY: Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinions of the authors. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback’s editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.