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THE DIAMONDBACK | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2008
Opinion
THE DIAMONDBACK
STEVEN OVERLY
YOUR INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK PHONE: (301) 314-8200 | FAX: (301) 314-8358
ROXANA HADADI
EDITOR IN CHIEF
3150 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL | COLLEGE PARK, MD., 20742 NEWSDESK .DBK@GMAIL.COM
MANAGING EDITOR
JOHN SILBERHOLZ DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
BEN SLIVNICK
MARDY SHUALY
OPINION EDITOR
OPINION EDITOR
Staff Editorial
Guest Column
Keep the message clear
Get going across the campus
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Georgia Institute of Technology professor’s study has raised ques- what if this happened during a shooting? Or a dangerous natural disaster? The moral of the story boils down to the fact that we can’t rely solely on tions about the campus’s No. 1 safety blanket since the shootings at Virginia Tech. As Jessica Bauer reported in the Oct. 14 issue of The emergency text alerts. This is another point University Police understand Diamondback, the study revealed the text message emergency and stated in Bauer’s story yesterday, but amid the university’s advertising alerts are often unreliable with slow delivery times and an even more trou- blitz to enroll students in the texting program, it should be doing more to bling possibility that a massive emergency text send-off could clog cell lines communicate to students about the other emergency response options already in place. For instance, remember in high school, when the teachers and block 911 calls. explained the emergency response plans on the first day of University Police say they’re already aware of the texschool? Why not do the same here? Why not have resident ting system’s limitations. The problem is the campus at assistants explain plans for their dorms or apartment large isn’t. For now, the texting system offers university buildings? If the general public isn’t well-versed in the uniofficials a compelling option to communicate with the camA recent study has raised versity’s other emergency response options, the texting pus in the case of an emergency, and we applaud the unitroubling questions about system fosters no more than a false sense of security. University for acting quickly to learn from the lesson of Virginia Tech. But if the general public doesn’t understand the university’s emergency versity Police have a lot of other options in place — in the event of an emergency, they set off sirens, send out e-mails the system’s drawbacks, it has the potential to create mass text message system. and send messages over all university speakerphones. Why panic. not remind students of these other messages in the same An example: Patrick Traynor, the Georgia Tech professor who authored the study, cites an instance at his university last year advertisements that promote the texts? The university’s emergency response proposal isn’t a problem in planwhen a chemical spill broke out and officials thought the campus at-large was threatened. A text message alert was sent out telling people to evacuate ning, but a shortfall in communication. One study isn’t enough to make us the campus. Soon after, when officials learned the spill was not as drastic as lose faith in the texting program, but it’s findings can’t be ignored. The idea they feared, they sent out a second message saying to ignore the first. that the texting system can’t cause any harm is flawed, and we hope officials Because of the delay in sending the texts, some students reported getting are thinking up alternatives and back-ups. Most importantly, we hope they the second message before the first. In this case, no harm was done. But keep us updated with all of their options along the way.
Our View
Editorial Cartoon: Shai Goller
Van Munching Mall: An unutilized student space
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’ve really taken to Washington Quad, the lush new green space on South Campus between Knox Road and the Memorial Chapel. It’s exciting to see how successful this formerly unused space has become. Everything happens on Washington Quad: volleyball, picnics, clandestine hookah-smoking, post-bar yelling, walks of shame. Indeed, it’s become the new place to see and be seen. But you won’t find anyone taking the walk of shame in another new space on South Campus that opened this summer. We’ll call it Van Munching Mall, in a nod to the gigantic business school that lines most of this new lawn near Mowatt Lane Garage. Is it pretty? Of course. Those trees look like they’ve been there for decades, and the brick sidewalks are cleaned so often you wonder if it’s just to give somebody a job to do. Everything’s there — that is, everything except for people.
DAN
REED It’s not like people never walk through Van Munching Mall. You’ve got one of the university’s biggest schools fronting the space, not to mention a large parking garage and several dorms. Just a little farther away are the Art/Sociology Building, South Campus Commons Buildings and Hillel, whose services draw many, many people across this mall every Friday night. So why aren’t people sticking around? Let’s compare this space to McKeldin Mall, which is, of course, considered to be the largest academic mall in the nation, a full six inches longer than
that of runner-up University of Virginia. It’s a lot bigger and a lot busier than Van Munching Mall, but it’s a good example of what a college quad should look like. For starters, McKeldin Mall has the sundial, a central focal point that’s a popular place for people to meet. Van Munching’s clock tower hangs off the end of the space, like an exclamation point for the business school. No one would meet there because walking there would take you out of your way. Also, there’s just one door to the business school, and it’s down there by the clock tower. Business majors, by far the largest potential contributor of life to this space, don’t have to enter the mall to go to class. What would make Van Munching Mall more active? Barbecue grills and a volleyball court might be inappropriate for an academic quad, but putting out more benches and even tables would
draw people into the space. Direct entrances from the adjacent dorms and another entrance from Van Munching Hall will encourage people who’d otherwise be too lazy to walk around the building to come outside. And programmed events in the space — such as performances, demonstrations or even a Frisbee tournament — would give people a solid reason to come by. The success of Washington Quad shows how bad South Campus needs more open space, and useful open space, at that. Pretty as it may be, Van Munching Mall and the buildings that surround it prevent people from spending any meaningful time there. But with a few minor improvements, there might be life on the new mall when the weather gets nice again. Dan Reed is a senior architecture and English major. He can be reached at reeddbk@gmail.com.
School spirit: The true walk of shame
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ood news, campus whores! There’s a new walk of shame. Your one-shoed treks from the fraternity houses to your apartments are taking a backseat to something even more disgusting, and with Maryland Madness coming up, it’s time to take a stand. Make the walk to Comcast Center during a basketball game this season and you’ll see the phenomenon. You’ll pass dozens — if not hundreds — of your peers walking in the wrong direction. Where are all of these people going? Don’t they know there’s some quality basketball being played in the other direction? Oh, they know. They know damn well. They’re just the ticket scanners — the worst people ever. They’ve had what they deem to be an intellectual breakthrough, and it goes as such:
1. Wow, basketball tickets at the university are free! What a superwonderful place! 2. The tickets are based on a lottery system where I get a better chance to get a ticket to a Duke or North Carolina game if I go to the games against non-conference, cupcake teams no one wants to see. 3. What’s that you say, my friend? All I need to do is show up, get my ticket scanned and then turn around and go home for a busy night of Rock of Love: Charm School instead of watching an actual basketball game? 4. I’m enough of an entitled asshole that I think I deserve to get credit for things I don’t actually do. 5. Ticket scanning, it is! I like to stare at these people as they pass me on their way back to their hovels and caves, I and really try to get
ROB
GINDES some insight as to what makes them think they’re better than everyone else. Look, we’ve all been there. We’ve all had a test or a study group come up, and we didn’t want to get penalized, so we scanned and ran. But some people are making an art out of it. If you want to have a better chance to get a ticket to a big basketball game, then you should be a good fan and show up to support the team during the games against the teams no one cares about. If you don’t want to, then
don’t complain when you don’t get a Duke ticket. You didn’t deserve it. Anyone who thinks they’re outsmarting the system by showing up to basketball games, scanning their tickets and leaving needs to know that they’re cheapening the hell out of the experience of being a Maryland fan. When the Princeton Review ranked us No. 2 in the country for “Students pack the stadiums,” I was embarrassed because I knew the truth: There’s a huge difference in the number of students who reserve tickets and the number who actually show up for the game. Congrats, ticket-scanners, you are all big, stupid phonies. Rob Gindes is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at gindesdbk@gmail.com.
POLICY: The signed letters, columns and cartoon represent only 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.
RESIDENCE HALL ASSOCIATION It’s 3 p.m. and you just got back from a long day of classes. You’re too exhausted to start homework, and instead decide you need some time to relax. But let’s face it: there’s nothing good on TV yet, and stalking people on Facebook can get a little old. Why not try something new? The Residence Hall Association will be launching the university’s first Go-Cross-Campus game Saturday. The game will last about two months, and all students are encouraged to take advantage of the pure, addictive fun the game will no doubt provide. Go-Cross-Campus is a massive online university-wide and teambased game, kind of like Risk but made specifically for college campuses. The goal of the game is to conquer the most territories on the custom-made campus map while expelling all other teams. The great draw to the game is that, rather than having just one person per team, there are teams comprising entire housing communities, in addition to an off-campus team, battling against one another to take over the territories students interact in every day. The beauty of Go-Cross-Campus lies in the fact that students can decide how much, or how little, time to put into it. There are no real commitments. The game does have tons of cool features for those who do become particularly engaged in the battle, such as the ability to nominate or impeach a commander, catch a spy and engage in team chats, to name a few. RHA members are extremely excited about launching the university’s first Go-Cross-Campus game and cannot wait to see what it does for this university. Go-Cross-Campus prides itself on the game’s ability to build school spirit and to create a sense of community — two things the RHA is very serious about. We see Go-Cross-Campus as a great way to start a university-wide tradition that has the ability to excite students about interacting with one another and uniting around a common goal. What’s even more exciting is the prize the winning team will receive!.The RHA will provide the victorious team with a pizza party as a way to reward those team members for their dedication to the university’s first game. The party will serve as a chance to interact in person with teammates and celebrate the success of the game. So why not be a part of this monumental event? There is no pressure and no time commitment in order to be involved. The game has already been widely successful at Yale, Harvard, Boston College, Ithaca College, the University of Massachusetts and so on. This is a great way to take part in an event that will no doubt become widely known at the university. To join the game, go to www.gocrosscampus.com/game/um d/ Oct. 20 and create an account. The game is completely free and completely fun. For more specific questions, feel free to e-mail the RHA at voice@marylandrha.com or visit our website at www.marylandrha.com. Our blog, located at www.marylandrha.blogspot.com, will be discussing the game as well, so stay posted! Alicia Hartlove is the RHA’s public relations officer. She can be reached at voice@marylandrha.com.
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