The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper
W E D N E S DAY, D E C E M B E R 3 , 2 01 4
josé granados (right), a senior Spanish major, benefited from DACA but said the expansion didn’t go far enough. photo courtesy of josé granados
DACA changes fail some
fazlul kabir, District 1 councilman, speaks at a September council meeting. Kabir supported relocating city hall. file photo/the diamondback
City hall to remain at current spot
Obama immigration announcement draws undocumented univ student criticism
Council members opt to reject proposed move to new location
By Jon Banister @J_Banister Senior staff writer
The United States Olympic Committee sent out letters to 35 cities’ mayors in February 2013 to gauge interest in hosting the 2024 Games. The committee said it narrowed its search to four cities this past summer. With the finalists determined, depending on whether the committee decides to make an actual bid for the 2024 Olympics, it said it expects to pick its partner city in the next 90 days. The International Olympic Committee plans to then select an official host city by 2017.
Ju n ior chem ica l eng i neering major Jorge Steven Acuña left Colombia to come to this country when he was 8 years old. Now, the 21-year-old from G er m a ntow n con siders t h i s state h is home, but the road has not been easy for h i m as an undocumented immigrant. O n a We d ne sd ay mor n i n g in March 2012, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at Acuña’s door. They arrested his father before placing the rest of the fa m i ly i n t he m a x i mu m-secu rity block at a hold i ng faci l ity on t he E a ster n Shore. “My dad and I, we were terrified, we didn’t really know w h a t t o e x p e c t ,” h e s a i d . O n t he si x t h d ay, ICE released Acu ña a nd h is fa m i ly i n re s p o n s e to t h e g ro w i n g pressure from politicians and p et it ion s a nd g ra nte d t hem one-year reprieve. Acuña then applied for the newly enacted
See olympics, Page 3
See immigrant, Page 3
By Eleanor Mueller @eleanor_mueller Staff writer At its Nov. 25 meeting, the College Park City Council settled on its current site as the location for a new city hall, despite requests by numerous citizens that council members postpone the decision. This decision comes after discussions began in the early 2000s regarding the current site and a location on Calvert Road. Some residents preferred the Calvert Road location, citing its larger size as a former school and its central location. The North College Park Citizens Association, West College Park Citizens Association and Berwyn District Civic Association – which represent more than half of the city’s long-term residents – all requested that the council defer its decision on a new site, said Christine Nagel, president of the See city hall, Page 2
washington is one of four finalist American cities up to bid for the 2024 Olympics. Supporters cite the city’s green space, walkability and existing infrastructure, including public transportation and university and professional venues, as evidence of Washington’s readiness to play host. james levin/the diamondback
CARRYING THE TORCH Washington a final contender for 2024 Olympic Games host with univ support By Taylor Swaak @tswaak27 Staff writer In 1996, the U.S. hosted its most recent summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. A decade from now, it could host again — possibly in the nation’s capital. As of June, Washington is one of four finalists for the U.S.’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, according to the Washington 2024 bid committee. The three other contenders for the bid are Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
100 turn out for activism plan in wake of Ferguson protests
Beyond the ping-pong table
Student groups pledge to keep demonstrating
U physics professor to watch debut of ISS-CREAM project
By Josh Magness @thedbk Staff writer
By Dustin Levy @DustinBLevy Staff writer Physics professor and research scientist Eun-Suk Seo used to play ping-pong in her free time for enjoyment and exercise. But now, spare time is a foreign concept to Seo as she prepares to launch her latest project to the International Space Station next year. Her project, ISS-CREAM (pronounced “ice cream”) is a collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center that will construct an experiment to directly measure cosmic rays, particles from space that bombard the Earth. “By doing that, we can identify these particles, event by event, what they are, and measure their energy to understand the origin, acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays,” said Seo, the project’s principal investigator.
Eun-Suk Seo, university physics professor, stands in front of the payload that flew over Antarctica in the CREAM balloon flights. Seo has been working on the project for more than 15 years. josh loock/the diamondback ISS-CREAM will launch a payload containing the experiment. Researchers will map an oddity at the upper end of the cosmic rays over a broad energy spectrum found in Seo’s previous experiments, while also reducing statistical uncertainties. With the results, the researchers will aim to solve one of science’s biggest mysteries: the source of cosmic ray energy and its impact on the universe. Seo began working at this university as a post-doctorate research associate in 1991. She specializes in cosmic rays and has studied them through spacebased and balloon-borne experiments, which observe the rays before they break up in the atmosphere.
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“What we’ve been trying to do was to extend these measurements to the highest energy possible,” Seo said. “That has been our quest. My project kind of evolved over the years.” This project started in 1998 with a concept study for the Cosmic Rays Energetics and Mass experiment, which aimed to collect data through a balloon-borne payload over Antarctica. Construction of CREAM began in 2000, and the first balloon flight was in 2004, setting a duration record as it flew for almost 42 days. Seo oversaw six successful balloon flights over Antarctica for a record 161 days of exposure for CREAM. See physics, Page 2
While many in this country continue to look back and debate the details of the Michael Brown case, some students at this university are looking forward to make sure such an event doesn’t happen again. An array of more than 100 students met for a town hall meeting at the Nyumburu Cultural Center Tuesday night to develop a plan for continuing on-campus activism regarding the Aug. 9 shooting of Brown, a black teenager, by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The group decided on three main goals to help combat police brutality. They plan to lobby for body cameras on every police officer in this state, establish a student review board to monitor University Police department procedures and raise awareness of what they say is racist subtext behind Byrd Stadium’s name to
push for its change. According to many at the meeting, Harry Clifton “Curley” Byrd, the president of this university from 1935 to 1954 and the stadium’s namesake, was a staunch supporter of a “separate but equal” college system. “It’s something that people in the black community have definitely talked about before,” said Moriah Ray, the vice president of this university’s chapter of the NAACP and the president of the United Youth Movement. Ray said planning more events in the future is important because it streng thens the movement’s message. “What we want to do now is show that we remain consistent and make it very clear why we’re doing what we’re doing,” the senior government and politics major said. “We want everyone to have a clear idea of the purpose behind every action.” Others who attended the meeting mentioned the request from President Obama on Monday to start a $263 million investment to provide police training and body cameras. Some students claimed his support would make it easier to lobby the heavily
SPORTS
OPINION
TERPS SET TO TAKE ON CAVALIERS
BULMAN: Moving beyond Ferguson
The newly ranked Terps men’s basketball team takes on former conference foe Virginia at Xfinity Center tonight P. 8
See brown, Page 2
Focus on race relations and police brutality, not rowdy politics P. 4 DIVERSIONS
PAINTING THE TOWN RED Graffiti artist Banksy pushes social and cultural norms P. 6