The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper
T H U R S DAY, D E C E M B E R 4 , 2 01 4
State pressured to repeal gun control Despite Gov-elect Hogan’s promises not to touch laws, firearm policies receive national backlash
this state’s Firearm Safety Act, which Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law in 2013. T he highly controversial law banned 45 assault weapons, limited By Jon Banister sures passed last year, but Gov.-elect @J_Banister Larry Hogan promises he will keep the capacity of gun magazines to 10 rounds and required fingerprint liSenior staff writer the law in place. A coalition of 21 states led by censing to buy handguns. “It really is none of their business, Lawmakers locally and around the West Virginia Attorney General country are pressuring this state to Patrick Morrisey, asked a federal this law is protecting Marylanders,” repeal its sweeping gun control mea- appeals court to overturn part of said Vincent Demarco, president of gregory brown, a sophomore criminology and criminal justice and government and politics major, protests outside of Xfinity Center last night. josh loock/the diamondback
Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence. “What they’re challenging is the ban on assault weapons, the kind of gun that killed so many kids in Newtown and Aurora, Colorado. … They need to be banned, they were banned and Maryland certainly has the authority to protect its citizens from these guns.” See guns, Page 3
BASKETBALL | No. 7 CAVALIERS 76, No. 21 TERPS 65
New York verdict stirs additional U activism Protesters continue to demand police change By Madeleine List @madeleine_list Senior staff writer About 30 protesters lay on the front steps of the Xfinity Center in 40-degree weather last night, holding signs that read, “Justice 4 Eric Garner,” “It is time to end the police brutality epidemic” and “All lives matter,” among other phrases. The demonstration represented the hours that Michael Brown’s body lay on the street in Ferguson, Missouri, after he was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson. The activists chanted and protested as fans walked into the center for the Terrapins men’s basketball game against University of Virginia. Some of the protesters entered the game wearing all black and holding signs with slogans like See protest, Page 2
OUT OF REACH
Univ police respond to U concerns
Fang Cao to study medical anthropology By Lexie Schapitl @lexieschapitl Staff writer
more than 100 students packed Stamp Student Union’s Atrium last night to discuss how to move forward after a grand jury did not indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager. josh loock/the diamondback
After 4-year-old Rhys Hughes heard his mother talking about Ferguson on the phone with her friends, the little boy who loves Batman and playing T-ball asked her, “Why don’t the police love me?” Rhys and his mother, 2010 university alumna Rebecca Hughes, sat in the second row during the African American studies department-sponsored Ferguson Town Hall meeting last night, which more than 100 attended. There, a panel discussed the Aug. 9 incident in which black teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson and the subsequent decision from a St. Louis County grand jury not to indict Wilson. “He needs to know,” Hughes said of her son, who is half-black. “I need him to be educated in his rights and in what’s going on in the world. I don’t
want this to be his reality, so I want him to be armed with knowledge to protect himself.” T here were more aud ience members than there were chairs in Stamp Student Union’s Atrium as panelists — students in the UMD Social Justice Coalition, University Police Chief David Mitchell and university professors — opened the event by sharing answers to the question, “What have we learned since the death of Michael Brown?” “What we have learned? No longer will we tolerate being underestimated, undervalued and marginalized,” said Jonathan England, an African American studies department lecturer. “No longer will we stand by and watch our young men gunned down.” Much of the town hall was Q-and-A, with a majority of the questions directed at Mitchell, who said he has
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The Terrapins men’s basketball team fell to Virginia in its first loss of the season last night. STORY, P. 10
Senior receives first university Rhodes Scholarship since 1974
Univ Ferguson town hall packs Stamp Atrium By Talia Richman @TaliRichman Senior staff writer
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attended meetings on the topic every night this week. Some questions focused on the Defense Department’s 1033 program, through which University Police obtained 16 12-gauge shotguns, 50 M16 rifles, two transport vehicles and a $65,000 armored truck on loan free of charge. The UMD Social Justice Coalition has released a set of demands calling for these weapons to be returned, as well as the creation of a review board, implementation of body cameras, a university statement condemning the nonindictment and increased transparency. University Police are still working on a response to those demands. Mitchell said these weapons are only used in “very life-threatening situations, such as hostage-taking See ferguson, Page 2
When university senior Fang Cao was a child, his family slept on cardboard mattresses and l ive d i n gover n ment-s ubsidized housing in London. After emigrating from China, Cao’s parents struggled to find jobs, attend college and raise their son while still mastering English. His family moved to Montgomery County when Cao was 7, and more than a decade later, he will return to the United Kingdom next year as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, the first Rhodes Scholar to be chosen from this university since 1974. “I’m really fortunate,” Cao said. “My ability to win this award not only reflected upon myself, but I think more importantly it reflected on all of the people who’ve helped me out over the past four years.” Cao, a computer science and physiology and neurobiology major, will attend Oxford next
year to pursue a master’s degree in medical anthropology. Cao has worked on research projects modeling neurons at this university under Daniel Butts and at the National Institutes of Health and said the brain has always been of interest to him. “I d id n’t rea l ly k now how it worked,” Cao said, “and somewhere in high school I realized no one really knows how it works, so it was a really fascinating area.” As Cao continued to study and volunteer, he became interested in medical anthropology and learning about how culture and socioeconomic conditions impact a person’s health. The Rhodes committees look for students who have impressive academic records, community service com m itments a nd have served as leaders, said history professor Richard Bell, who works with the National Scholarships Office to help university undergraduates apply for United Kingdom-based fellowships. “They’re also looking for a spark, I think, for people who are interesting, intriguing, ambitious, passionate, enthusiastic,” Bell said. “Finding those things in the same human being is a tall order sometimes.”
SPORTS
OPINION
TERPS FALL TO CAVALIERS
WALLACE: Putting faith in the police
With Dez Wells and Evan Smotrycz sidelined, the men’s basketball team struggled to find offense in loss to No. 7 Virginia P. 10
See cao, Page 7
Trust between the community, police needs to be repaired P. 4 DIVERSIONS
HATED FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS? Reflecting on the state of Nickelback in 2014 P. 6