Meal Zoning - An Antiquated Model

Every UMBC student with a meal plan has encountered "meal zoning." That's the little system that prevents you from using your meal at lunchtime if you had breakfast too late. Why does this policy exist? Is there any real reason for it? Why, if a student buys, say, a ten-meal plan, can't they choose when to use them?

The answer to this question is clouded by myths, two of which I would like to address here.

Myth #1: Meal plans are priced assuming that students will not use all of their purchased meals, and the meal zones are designed to facilitate missed meals.

Fact: This is not the case. Meal plans are priced according to how many meals could potentially be used. When you buy a ten meal plan, you are paying for ten meals whether you use them or not.


Myth #2: Meal zoning is specified in the food services contract, and therefore cannot be eliminated.

Fact: The food services contract specifies a list of "minimum requirements" that the contractor must meet. At the very least they must provide meals during the kinds of zoning rules UMBC has always had. There is nothing to say that these rules could not be superseded by a superior system.


I see no reason for UMBC to cling to an outmoded system that most other schools have long since abandoned. Some progress has been made with the so-called "unlimited" meal plan, but why not go all the way and allow students to use meals whenever and wherever is most convenient?

I propose that students be able to use their meals at any time of the day, dining hall or Commons, restricted only by the number of meals they are allotted each week. A student with a ten meal plan could use five meals on Monday, one meal each on Tuesday, Wednesday,and Thursday, and two on Friday.

The infrastructure is already in place; all that would have to be done is to lift the frustrating time restrictions. There is really no strong reason not to - it's time UMBC's food services moved into the modern era.

Post if You Were at Neuroscience

It would have made a lot more sense to do something like this before Neuroscience 2008, but I didn't think of it then. Anyway, leave a comment if you presented or attended this year's Society for Neuroscience conference in D.C. I ran into several UMBC people while I was there on Monday and I'm curious to see how many others were there as well.

Green Space Update

SGA Office of Student Initiatives Staff Member and former SGA Vice President Elani Odeyale has provided an update on Green Space, the winning Prove It proposal.

What's new?

Since early August, Green Space Team Chair, Michelle Eisemann, SGA's Tabassum Majid and Elani have been meeting with Facilities Management. The proposal's Project Managers have invested incomparable talent and a great deal of time into realizing the Green Space vision. Earlier this month, the design was finalized according to construction and timeline requirements and the incorporation of green materials.

What's next?

Over the winter, the construction documents will go through the procurement process, and construction is scheduled for early March, given proper weather conditions. As noted in the proposal, the Green Space Team would like the unveiling ceremony to be a tribute to community collaboration, inviting the campus to participate in planting greenery.

Nobody Knows What's Going On?

Advertising is a critical factor of getting students to come to events and generally just participate in campus life activities. UMBC already provides a number of systems for advertisement, including myUMBC spotlights, the Commons iNet, various bulletin boards around campus. Some things cost money, while others are provided free as services.

In practice, the various aspects of UMBC's advertising system are controlled by numerous departments and even third party companies. The televisions in the Commons are part of the iNet system and controlled by Commonvision. Also under their jurisdiction is the LED sign on the side of the UC. Both of these services can be utilized free of charge by submitting ads via their website, umbc.edu/uc/commonvision. They can also put up banners in various locations around the Commons, like Main Street, and posters on their bulletin boards.

The digital sign in the Engineering building is part of the spotlight system. A spotlight ad can be placed free of charge through myUMBC, and will appear both on this sign and on the home page of UMBC. Remember that it's a good idea to have some kind of image prepared to submit along with your advertisement.

Some free ad space is available in the Retriever Weekly, courtesy of SGA. This space can be used by working with SGA's Department of Communications (contact person: Nikki Ward). Other ad space can be purchased by contacting TRW's advertising manager, Zak Bratcher (phone: 410-455-1261, email: TRW's contact form). Large-scale ads can be placed on the Starlight Media pavillions (outside the UC and between the library and the commons) for a fee.

With so many different places to go, is it at all surprising that things aren't advertised to a greater extent? Would it not be better to have a syngle system where students could submit an ad, select where they want it to be displayed, and pay any applicable fees? At the very least, the inclusion of third party space like Starlight Media creates barriars to effective communication with the student body. While those pavillions are very visible, purchasing the space is prohibatively expensive for most groups. Using them also requires the action of a party that clearly has no vested interested in our campus, as evidenced by their dismal updating and maintainence schedule.

The institution of UMBC should take back spaces like that from third parties and consolidate more confusing places like iNet with something simple, like myUMBC. By making advertising space more accessable and ensuring that the people managing it actually care about helping students get their messages out, UMBC can start a positive cycle where potential activities are both easier to advertise and easier to discover.

From the President's Desk

Hey everyone! Every Monday, I'm going to be posting an update on what happened last week as well as what to look forward to this week. Most of my energy lately has been going towards Election Night Extravaganza. This event, which will be starting tomorrow night at 7pm in the Commons, offers the UMBC community a chance to come together and celebrate the elections. We will be having big screen TVs on Main Street (in front of the Bookstore) broadcasting different channels as the results come in. Free pizza and soda will be available earlier in the program up in the Student Organizations Area, and we will be providing coffee and hot chocolate in lower Flat Tuesdays. We have a ton of Obama and McCain masks to give out as well. Once you get your mask, you should head over to the Gameroom and participate in our Four Man Jousting or Basketball Moonbounce inflatable games! The Commons, who helped us a lot with costs for the facilities as well as coffee and hot chocolate, have agreed to extend their hours past midnight too.

Four years ago, this event pulled in over 1,000 students throughout the night. We're expecting to crush those numbers tomorrow, so make sure you show up!Lastly, if you are registered to vote in this area, there will be a shuttle going back and forth between the Commons Circle and Catonsville High School between 12-5pm tomorrow. Please take advantage of this service!

Name the Living Mascot

Go to the athletics website right away and vote to name our new, living Chesapeake Bay Retriever mascot. Save the poor fellow from being stuck with the name "Champ."

Vote (preferably for "Grit") here.

Campus Appearance

So I'm sure everyone noticed the yellow retriever fever signs stuck all around the loop for homecoming. Driving on to campus via Walker Ave on Friday I saw several signs advertising homecoming. The bonfire on Thursday drew a large crowd as did the fireworks. There were people all over campus and a very positive environment was created. I was actually impressed compared to the usual amount of notice homecoming receives.

Earlier today was the homecoming tailgate and soccer game, unfortunately I was unable to attend since I was at the MHEC SAC (Maryland Higher Education Commission, Student Advisory Council) meeting being hosted this month by Towson. Upon arriving at Towson I drive past at least 2 giant electronic signs advertising sporting events and other going ons. There are banners on the lightposts and signs. I knew I was on their campus even before I saw a single building.

The meeting was in a building in what appeared to be the middle of campus that overlooked their football stadium and several other athletic fields. Throughout the meeting we could hear cheers from one of the fields, although it wasn't the football stadium. As the meeting let out I could see a very large crowd of students from which I had heard the earlier cheers. They were quite a large crowd of students standing outside in the rain cheering for what if I remember was a soccer game.

As I left campus, I see several more signs and paw prints on the street leading to the fields from where I was just parked. There are signs advertising Towson. There was no mistaking that I was still on their campus.

So when I arrived back at UMBC today, from the Walker Ave entrance and again notice the lack of any permanent welcome sign. There's the big giant tent outside of Public Policy for the president's reception along with the brand new landscaping that was put in this week. There are still the yellow signs around the loop, however they are identical in form to the campaign signs that you see everywhere this time of year. It is almost as if this weekend was some temporary campaign for homecoming and once it is over everything goes back to normal.

However even with all of the past's weeks improvements for homecoming, in terms of just pure physical campus appearence, UMBC on homecoming weekend paled in comparison to Towson. The side road I took leaving Towson had a bigger and better sign than we have for our main entrance. An electronic sign advertising events beats a silo any day.

But it isn't Towson that is a top 5 up and coming school, it's UMBC. I think it's time that our campus started looking like it.

Campus Oddities: Engineering Building

I never really used the 24-hour computer lab in Engineering until recently, when my home computer was having some serious issues. As a result, I've been encountering the Handicapped Door of Doom on the ground floor. For some reason, both doors are extremely difficult to open by hand - something that gets me every time. I confidently stride toward the door and pull, expecting it to open like a normal door, only to have it budge about 1/4 of the way.

Anybody else have that experience, or other campus idiosyncrasies you'd like to share?

UMBC: Its Own Worst Enemy, Part 4

I thought I'd hold off on a few of these for a while, lest all 25 subscribers think that this space has become exclusively negative.

Everybody in student life, especially those of us in SGA, want UMBC students to take "ownership" of the campus. We'd love for everybody to have the kind of experiences that David Hoffman frequently describes. Unfortunately it seems that not all parts of the campus support that goal - in some cases even actively suppressing student demonstrations of campus ownership.

One such event happens nearly every year. A few brave artistic students decide to create chalk paintings around a residence hall - their home at UMBC. The next morning, as students are busy taking pictures and wondering about the mysterious artists, an email arrives from a Community Director. The gist of the message is always the same: "Lovely art, but remember that in your community living guide, chalking is prohibited."

Is that the message we should be sending at UMBC? "Lovely expression of campus ownership, but unfortunately we don't allow that here." How can we spend valuable resources begging students to get involved with UMBC, only to turn around and trample them when they do?

UMBC has taken a very proactive approach to campus policy, an approach that says, "we will use policy to prevent problems from occurring." I think we could stand to have a more reactive policy, one that says, "we will use policy to eliminate problems if they do occur." Chalking hateful messages around a resident hall would certainly be a problem - but isn't somebody's chalk art a positive community message? Is it really fair to students to destroy the positive just because there is the possibility of negative?

I would love to see students decorate True Grit before a game, or put a festive Santa hat on Walter Sondheim for the holidays. I also wonder how fast such a demonstration of campus ownership would be removed...

Time Waster: Pandemic 2

I've recently been hooked on another great time-wasting flash game: Pandemic 2. You play as an infectious agent (virus, bacteria, or parasite) and your goal is to infect the world, ultimately eliminating mankind from the face of the earth. At your disposal are resistances, methods of infection, and a colorful palette of symptoms.

I've worked out a decent winning strategy using a parasite in realistic mode, but I'm working on another shot so I can hit the world with parasitic necrosis.

Major points to anybody who can get "Retriever Fever" on the highscore list. If you can do it come by the SGA office and I'll get you a small prize (no cars or cash, sorry).

Digital Signage

I'm not sure exactly how long it's been there, but I recently noticed the new digital sign on the ground floor of the engineering building. I've often thought it would be neat to have an iNet-like system for all of campus, not just the Commons. This looks like a pilot implementation of that idea - exciting!

From what I can tell, the ads are coming from the myUMBC spotlights, so it would seem that if you've placed an ad on Spotlight it will appear on the digital sign as well.

Time

Time is always an issue for those with too much on their plate to handle. Being one of those people, it is difficult to do so many things at once and balance all aspects of your life equally without compromise. However the more you are involved in something the more you want to make it better. Analogous to this is UMBC. The campus wants to make things better for its students, but maintaining it is already enough work. However when a new idea pops up, motivated enough people stride to make things happen and forgo all obstacles in the way of getting things done.

While studying is important, as it is the primary purpose for us being here, it is also important to realize that each of us makes or breaks this school, what it represents and how it is viewed by the collegiate community. Every time someone makes a breakthrough in student-administration co-operation and teamwork, we gain points. Every time a student becomes agitated enough to spew hate about faculty and staff we lose points. We create the environment we're in, and if one person decides to taint that serenity, it is going to be detrimental not only to them but to the entire student populous.

Building on that, I have become aware that many of the students have become frustrated with the various campus departments (academic and administrative). A key point to make also is that just because someone is doing their job does not mean that they are out to get you. The only way to resolve problems like why does such and such occur is to focus on changing policy. For instance, why does the campus turn its head when asked about the workforstudents posters that clearly violate policy that they themselves set up? Why doesn't vector marketing get fined and their posters removed while growing student organizations cant post in the same place and their material is removed almost instantly? To balance, why do students always talk about how such and such is responsible for the state we are in, in regards to whatever problem it may be. Why dont students start to work at getting apathy and demotivation off our campus and unwelcome in our halls.

Every class coming in is more and more involved than the one before it. When freshmen look to upperclassmen they should see a group of people working together to help create a better UMBC for everyone, while at the same time achieveing what UMBC is famous for in academics. Sometimes however you realize that as much as you want somethign to happen, motivation isnt enough as you just dont have the time...that is when true talent and ability to create and affect is lost to the perpetuation of lifes struggles.

UMBC: Its Own Worst Enemy, Part 3

UMBC does a number of things to shoot itself in the foot with students, the individuals every university relies on the most - not only for financial support through tuition and alumni donations, but through the ever-popular buzzphrase of "viral marketing," in other words, speaking highly of UMBC to friends and family.

One of the most frustrating things for me has been UMBC's differential enforcement of school "policies." Many policies are only invoked when a problem is perceived, others seem designed to stifle student life. Compounding this predicament is the seeming inability of the university to communicate its intentions to the enforcement arm, as I experienced Wednesday in the Hilltop parking lot, and many students have experienced with the posting "policy."

Show me a student who has had an issue with Student Billing, and I will show you a student who feels like leaving UMBC for good. While the billing process is understandably complex, it seems that a number of problems could be avoided if the people behind the computers in the Bursar's Office would do a cursory check of the items before hitting "send bill." Like many other situations at UMBC, communication between offices (in this case, financial aid, food services, etc.) and the enforcement arm (student billing) is abominable.

As somebody who is here on a scholarship, I have run into numerous problems as soon as I started making "nonstandard" choices, like living at Walker Avenue or off-campus, as I do currently. One of these problems are the so-called "refund" checks that get sent out when not all of the scholarship money is used. If you aren't taking advantage of student housing or meal plans, the value of your scholarship is reduced (another issue for another time). Unfortunately for students, this reduction occurs after "refunds" have already been sent out. The same situation occurs if you sign up for a meal plan.

What compounds this problem is that later, when the billing folks realize what's been doing on, you'll get slapped with a huge bill "DUE NOW," essentially demanding all the money you were "refunded" back. If you're not careful, they'll have forgotten to undo some of their previous steps, like increasing your scholarship once you sign up for a meal plan, and you'll end up paying the university extra!

How does this work in practice? Here's an example from my experience this fall.

• I sign up for classes, do not sign up for student housing, and have not yet selected a meal plan. "Refund" check is issued before the semester has even started.
• First day of classes, I sign up for a 10 meal plan.
  
• I am told that because I'm not signed up for housing or a meal plan, my scholarship has been reduced. Huge bill appears on my university account.
• Meal plan is billed, in addition to the previous bill.
• I end up with large bill, "DUE NOW," with numbers that are inaccurate. Of course, because it is due now, I am expected to pay this amount without question if I don't want late charges to be assessed.

Would it really be that hard for the various branches of the university to just talk to each other? Or perhaps to send out these ridiculous refund checks, say, in the second week of the semester, when most of these confounding decisions have already been made? If these things are assessed at certain times, could those dates be made public so students can ensure that they have selected everything they need before scholarships are reduced, refund checks are sent out, and large bills are demanded?

For heaven's sake, UMBC. It's situations like this that make students want to curse the place that will eventually be our alma mater. You're your own worst enemy.

The Saga of the Transcript Fee

When the SGA sat down at its retreat in August, it outlined five key projects to start the year off with. One of these projects was to investigate the new $8 transcript fee that had gone into effect over the summer. The committee over the past month and half has been very busy looking into it, and has had many interesting experiences and startling revelations.

To start, we did research. UMBC outsourced handling the distribution of our transcripts to Credentials Inc. We looked into the company a bit, but we also looked into transcript fees at other institutions. Our first revelation came in finding out that no other college in the state of Maryland has a transcript fee nearly as high as UMBC. This was disheartening, and we decided to meet with Dr. Nancy Young to find out more about how the decision to allow this fee to pass came to be. During our meeting, we were told that the Registrar’s office had been so busy printing transcripts, that they were unable to focus on services to students. Now that they didn’t have to handle that part of the job, they can focus on those services. We also found out that the fee had originally been proposed at $10, but was knocked down to $8. She informed us that to her knowledge, the fee was only to cover the costs of using Credentials’ services (no money would come back to UMBC to use). Dr. Young told us the Vice Presidents had been shown fees from other universities and all were in a range of $5-$15. They were also told that for someone requesting a transcript, namely alumni, it would not be a burden since they usually only request one. Dr. Young was surprised to find out about the other USM schools, and actually looked up College Park and Ohio State, two of her alma maters, and found they both had very low fees compared to us. She suggested to us to look up the fees at UMBC’s peer institutions (which are colleges across the country similar to UMBC in size and makeup) and to meet with the Registrar, Steve Robinson.

Taking her advice to heart, we did more research. And again we found that of our 10 peer institutions, 3 gave out transcripts for free, and 4 were at $5. Only 3 were as high as or higher than UMBC. Naturally this only fueled our worries about why our fee was so high.

Today we met with Mr. Robinson. He told us about how there was a bidding process for the outsourcing, with Credentials winning. He also told us that there was indeed money coming back to UMBC in a revenue sharing plan. Some of this money would go to offsetting the departments budget problems, some would go to hiring more staff eventually, and the rest would be going to research and development. When we asked the Registrar why UMBC was in such dire straits compared to our peer institutions that we needed such a high fee, he informed us that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to our peers.

We also asked him if there could be alternatives to the current model. When asked if we could have it to where students could use Credentials if they needed those particular services, but could still get transcripts for free at the Office of the Registrar, he told us that would be infeasible, giving a metaphor that if given a choice between free parking on campus and using the meters, people would use the free parking. We also asked him if perhaps we could do method where students could get 3 transcripts for free in a day, and anymore than that could be charged (a method used as other campuses), but he told us that it would be nearly impossible to track that kind of data. In the end, we asked how could he justify having students pay another fee outside of the many fees we already pay for, he told us that we pay for stuff at the Yum Shoppe in the Commons, and this is very similar.

The committee has yet to meet to decide our next course of action. Obviously input from the students that we represent (all of you) would be very helpful, so leave some comments. If you would like to let the Registrar know your feelings on the fee, e-mail him at robinsos@umbc.edu. We plan to continue working on this issue until the problem is resolved.

UMBC: Its Own Worst Enemy, Part 2

UMBC does a number of things to shoot itself in the foot with students, the individuals every university relies on the most - not only for financial support through tuition and alumni donations, but through the ever-popular buzzphrase of "viral marketing," in other words, speaking highly of UMBC to friends and family.

One of the most frustrating things for me has been UMBC's differential enforcement of school "policies." Many policies are only invoked when a problem is perceived, others seem designed to stifle student life. Compounding this predicament is the seeming inability of the university to communicate its intentions to the enforcement arm, as I experienced yesterday in the Hilltop parking lot.

The UMBC Posting Policy is the perfect example of differential enforcement. How many students have been involved with an organization or event and been told to take posters down for violating posting policy? Ever tried to be creative and post things in non-standard areas, like the College Republicans have been doing over the past few weeks?

How about those Work for Students folks, an organization that according to some is less than honest with its attempts to secure student workers? They seem to get a free pass to post their signs anywhere on campus they please, no matter how disruptive to normal activities (partially covering chalkboards, for example, with the paper signs).

What about chalking, another form of "posting"? Anonymous groups get free reign of the campus, posting their messages on buildings and walls everywhere. Yet when SEB wants to promote Quadmania with guerrilla chalk ads, they are chastised.

Something seems very wrong with these pictures. Is it that important that our campus be "sterile," no ad or message disturbing its pristine image? And if so, how come the rules only seem to apply to some? Is workforstudents.com more important than our own student organizations?

For heaven's sake, UMBC. It's situations like this that make students want to curse the place that will eventually be our alma mater. You're your own worst enemy.

UMBC: Its Own Worst Enemy, Part 1

UMBC does a number of things to shoot itself in the foot with students, the individuals every university relies on the most - not only for financial support through tuition and alumni donations, but through the ever-popular buzzphrase of "viral marketing," in other words, speaking highly of UMBC to friends and family.

One of the most frustrating things for me has been UMBC's differential enforcement of school "policies." Many policies are only invoked when a problem is perceived, others seem designed to stifle student life. Compounding this predicament is the seeming inability of the university to communicate its intentions to the enforcement arm.

A stark example of this happened to me today and provided the impetus for embarking on this series of posts.

I have long contended that the perceived "parking problem" at UMBC is not the lack of parking spaces, but the lack of parking spaces that are close to the places students want to go on campus. As a commuting student this semester, I have put this into practice by heading straight for the Hilltop lot (Lot 22, I believe) when I arrive for class each morning.

Today I was in the undesirable situation of being ten minutes late for class. Pulling onto Hilltop Road at 11:10 AM, I knew there was no chance of finding a space in any of the closer lots, so I dutifully headed directly for the Hilltop lot. I was immediately confronted by a staff member, who informed me that student parking was "to the right." About a third of the lot had been cordoned off (diagonally, I might add, so at least ten spaces were lost in the caution tape) for special event parking. Naturally, the remaining space was long filled, but since the staff member did not inform arriving students of this, many were parallel parking along the sides of the caution tape. Faced with the alternative of heading to the exact opposite side of campus to park in Lot 17, I parallel parked in that area.

Of course, when I returned to my car at 9:00 PM, I had received a parking ticket for parking in an improper area (placed in a Glad bag against the drizzle for my convenience). The time on the ticket was 3:10 PM. Rather than enforcing this policy when it mattered, when students were being told they should park "to the right," the UMBC Police seem to have waited until the barriers were taken down before cruising the lot for violations.

Would it have taken that much additional effort to inform the police of what was going on, enlisting their assistance to guide parking or to exercise lenience due to the lack of available spaces? Couldn't the staff member have looked behind her to see that the spaces were empty, and told students so, rather than telling them they should park there? Could the people have at least blocked off the lot with a straight line, maximizing the number of spaces available for use? Is this a case even worth appealing, or will I be slapped with the ticket price plus an additional "processing fee" when I am told that it was MY responsibility to know that the UMBC staff member was misinformed?

For heaven's sake, UMBC. It's situations like this that make students want to curse the place that will eventually be our alma mater. You're your own worst enemy.

ACTA: A Christmas Gift for Big Media

I've been following the developments of the ultra-secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement since this document leaked several months ago. This treaty represents an assemblage of the world's wealthiest countries getting together to fight a rampant problem - not public health, not rogue states, not even terrorism, but copyright infringement.

It has become clear that the term counterfeiting will not be restricted to physical goods, where cheap, inferior reproductions could cause harm to the unwitting end user, but instead expanded to target "internet distribution." To quote Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) counsel David Fewer,

“If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas, what would they look like? This is pretty close.”

This agreement is slated to be fast-tracked with a goal of having it signed by the end of this year. Unfortunately, the entire process has remained shrouded in mystery with little public input on an issue that will assuredly affect them. It's time to end these kinds of one-sided debates.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a very informative page on the treaty as well as a means of contacting your senator - urge them to demand that this treaty be brought into the light so we can judge its contents.

Ack! Drinking at 18?

Many universities across the nation, including the Maryland System, have endorsed an opening up of discussion on the US drinking age. Does restricting the purchase of alcohol to persons over 21 really help prevent alcohol-related issues?

I certainly have no objections to having this kind discussion and think that honest research will reveal some very interesting results.

Personally, I believe that a lower drinking age will allow institutions of higher education like UMBC to better educate young adults in the responsible use of alcohol, rather than "clandestine binges." People who want to drink will, regardless of the law, so instead of trying unsuccessfully to stop the behavior let's educate students instead.

I'd love to hear some discussion from the UMBC community on this issue. Do you think the current law is good one? Should schools be punished for even wanting to question the current law? Will a lower age just push the current college alcohol issues into high school?

Senate Meeting/USMSC Meeting

Tonight, we held our first official Senate meeting, where we confirmed most of the appointed executive branch, the USMSC representatives, new Supreme Court justice, and MHEC SAC Representative. I was very impressed with the maturity that my fellow Senators displayed when considering the confirmation of these highly qualified individuals. I am inspired and encouraged by all of the plans and projects that the executive branch cabinet members have planned for this year. While we are always very ambitious at the beginning of the year, I am confident that we will be able to actually follow through with many of the ideas. It is vital that all SGA members hold each other accountable for their plans and ideas that they explained before they were elected, appointed, and/or confirmed. It is very easy to have great ideas, but it is always hard actually implementing them. Let's hold each other accountable this year and encourage each other to ask for help whenever needed. The SGA is a large body, and our constituents (the students) deserve an SGA that works for them. I am also very excited about the Senate projects that we began planning for. Under the leadership of Gabe and Jen (Speaker and Assitant Speakers of the Senate), as well as the effective and efficient work ethic of the Senators, I know that we will work hard to make sure these initiatives and ideas become reality.

This past Sunday, I attended my first University System of Maryland Student Council (USMSC) meeting as a shadow representative from UMBC. I was very impressed with the USM Student Council. I knew that the USMSC had a very important role, but I didn't realize until Sunday how dedicated and conscientious all of the representatives are.
It was very refreshing as a USM student to see that representatives from all of our institutions cared so much about the system as a whole, as well as their own respective institutions. We debated real issues and were able to listen to numerous different perspectives on pertinent topics such as lowering the drinking age, tuition policy, environmental sustainability, and the slots referendum. Having guest speakers to help us facilitate these discussions helped us even more because we were able to obtain expert knowledge, research, and facts that helped us determine how to render the students' perspective to the system leadership, including the Board of Regents and Chancellor Kirwan.
All in all, I am very impressed and very excited to begin working as a UMBC representative to the USMSC. As I said in my previous post, I brought up the issue of our transcript fee and am working with the other representatives from all of the other USM institutions to get more information on how their institutions handle transcripts.

In the meantime, if any UMBC student has an issue that they would like to see brought up to the USMSC, please do not hesitate to contact myself, Tabassum Majid, or Michael Castello (who are UMBC's two voting representatives to the USMSC).

Transcript Fee

Hey Everyone,
An issue has come up that has frustrated many UMBC students. Until July 1, 2008, we did not have to pay for official transcripts from the Registrar's office. Now, we must pay $8 per transcript we obtain. This has angered many students because of the typical amount of transcripts that we need in our lifetime (for grad school, careers, etc.). A committee has been formed to address this issue and figure out exactly why this fee was initiated and how we can either reduce it or eliminate it.
I brought this issue up to the University System of Maryland Student Council (USMSC) meeting yesterday, and no other USM institution charges as much as we do for transcripts. I am figuring out the exact numbers now, but some institutions do charge a nominal fee after a certain amount of free transcripts. I am in contact with each institution and will post their transcript fees as soon as possible. With all the money UMBC students already pay for their education and living expenses, this has become an issue that the SGA wants to address as soon as possible!

USM Student Blog

Welcome back all. I wanted to share with you my new blog that I am using to communicate with students across the University System of Maryland. Blog writers are from all across the State. From UMBC, Steve, Michael, and Tabassum are all registered contributors. Please take some time to review the blog, comment on some items, and provide me with some feedback about how I can make it more worthwhile and interesting.

Have a great first day of classes!

ROTC Proposal

Wow, this week has been a busy one! For the past few days, the SGA has decided to be more proactive in the discussion to bring an ROTC site to UMBC. We had 2 emergency Senate meetings the past two days hoping to come to some sort of conclusion. The first meeting included both old and new Senators, but not everyone was present. After 2 hours, we decided to take an informal vote between both Senates, and the results split. Yesterday, we decided to hold another meeting mainly to record the pros and cons to present at the University Steering Committee. In addition, students outside the SGA, including members of Freedom Alliance and ROTC, attended the meeting and voiced their opinions.

Together, we compiled quite a lengthy list. The pros included $400,000 per year for ROTC cadets, the addition of the ROTC site would add a piece of diversity to campus, our future leaders in the military would be UMBC graduates, and the possibility to have some ground to change the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. The cons included establishing an institution that goes against UMBC's non-discrimination policy, the fact that much of due process and shared governance is being skipped over, some students would not feel comfortable on campus, a general lack of information about the details of the program, and also the timing during finals.

After 2 hours of discussion and deliberation, the new Senators decided that they wanted to take a position on this issue. Since this was not a formal meeting, they could not cast a formal binding vote. However, they decided to informally vote on the question "Do you support UMBC submitting an application for ROTC site status at this time?" The votes were 3 yes, 7 no, and 1 abstained.

Formally or not, the SGA Senate was the only senate not to vote yes for the submitting of an application at this time. However, the decision has not been made yet, and it is uncertain when we will find out. At the University Steering Committee meeting, we discussed what action we need to take for both scenarios. If this does not go through, we need to continue having the discussion of bringing ROTC here in the proper fashion in order for us to make a clear decision when the opportunity arises again. If this does go through, major work would need to be done over the summer to make sure that the logistics of this program work out for the better. Either way, there will be people who are not happy at all with the decision, and as a community, we will need to come together to get through it.

Art Attack

When you walk around the UMBC campus you will notice that there is a great amount of positive energy being emitted from all the bright students on campus. I'm not being sarcastic. UMBC is a place where I have met some of the smartest, most talented young adults with aspiring hopes and dreams. However when walking around our academic oriented university my friend pointed out to me that 4 out of 5 conversations occurring revolve around one of the following: Biology, Chemistry, Math, Engineering, Physics. Not a soul to be heard about poetry or fine art. A possibility could be that I am hanging out with all science/engineering oriented majors. Another more plausible explanation is that UMBC is in dire need of an Art Attack. I mean as a science major myself, I'm not one to talk. But when was the last time you and your friends read and discussed a poem? How about literary novel that wasn't a part of your English assignment? When did you sit down and just let your mind flow with a pencil and your heart fill the paper; or computer as it is nowadays. I mean while many of us may make an effort to connect with modern art and culture, that may just be something you're not into, which is fine. All I'm saying is, with summer creeping up a lot of people are going to have free time on their hands. Instead of watching endless hours of mind-numbing television programs and youtube videos go and commit yourself to at least one book that interests you personally. Read it and think about it. Connect with your book of choice. I promise you it'll be worth it.

Treasurer Training for Student organizations

This upcoming Monday (May 5) and Wednesday (May 7) there will be 2 treasurer training sessions for student organization treasurers. The sessions will both be at 12:00 in UC 310 and end before 1:00. These two sessions are an alternative to the training sessions that will be held in September. Any questions please contact David Indek at indek1@umbc.edu.

Election Results Announcement - Tonight

Tonight, the Election Board will be announcing the results of this week's election.

7:00 PM, Student Organizations Space

This is the same place where the debates were held, located on the second floor of the Commons in between Flat Tuesday's and the Gameroom.

SGA Elections - Last Four Hours

There are only four hours left in the SGA elections so make sure you get your vote in before midnight!

Instructions for how to vote as well as a list of the candidates can be found here:

http://sga.umbc.edu/studentvote

RSA presents Town Hall Meeting!

UMBC's Resident Student Association would like to invite everyone to come to the

Town Hall Meeting on
Tuesday, April 29th
from 6:45 pm to 8:45 pm
in Lecture Hall 6 (Physics Building)

The Town Hall Meeting will be a forum for students to ask questions of some of UMBC's student organization's representatives, as well as representatives from other resources on campus (OIT, Office of Student Life, ResLife, Food Services, UMBC Police, etc.). There will be light refreshments served and we look forward to seeing you there!

If you will not be able to make the Town Hall Meeting and would like to ask a question, leave a question here and we will forward those to the committee so that you're questions can be asked and answered!

Will update with who is attending soon!
Thanks!

Voting has Begun!

Voting has begun for the SGA Elections! For information about how to cast your vote, check out:

http://sga.umbc.edu/studentvote

Voting will last until 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 23rd. Winners will be announced Thursday, April 24th.

SGA Now Accepting Additional Allocation Requests for next September and October

The SGA Finance Board is now accepting funding requests for events that will be taking place in next September and October. Please fill out an additional allocation request form (either on paper or digitally using Frogger (http://sga.umbc.edu/forms/) for all events that your organization will be having in September and October 2008 (next school year). You can find the PDF version of the Additional Allocation Request here: http://sga.umbc.edu/downloads/allocate0708.pdf.

If your organization already submitted requests for events in September and October of next year during the initial budgeting process this past fall, you will be hearing back regarding those requests shortly. If you have questions regarding what you did request, feel free to email me at indek1@umbc.edu.

Also be aware that there will be at least two treasurer training sessions occurring the first week of May run by whoever the new SGA Treasurer for next year will be and myself. This will be substitute sessions for next year's treasurer training.

Students at College Park pass a student fee increase

Students at College Park voted for a student fee increase in their SGA elections earlier this week. Read the article to find out how.

Teacher Ratings Website UP!

Hey everyone! After weeks of compiling and sorting through data and putting it into an easy to read format, the website with the teacher ratings is finally up! Just go to sga.umbc.edu/teacherratings to see them. I want to thank all of the people who compiled the data with me, and I want to thank Nikki for making an excellent website. You all are great.

Who Will Get Your Vote?

The Retriever Weekly is running an informal poll on their website - head over there and vote for your favorite SGA Presidential candidate! Results will be published in an upcoming issue of the newspaper.

Debates Online

UMBCtv has posted a recording of the live video stream from the debates. If you were unable to attend or just want to refresh yourself about what was said I highly recommend watching it.

Check it out here. Comments can be left on the UMBCUnderground post.

After 90 days in Annapolis...

Each year, the Maryland General Assembly meets for 90 days from January to April. Last night, the 2008 Session ended. Here is a brief list of highlights from the session:

- no textbook-sale regulation was passed because the Senate and the House of Delegates could not come to agreement on minor details
- USM state funding increased 9% from last year
- UMBC state funding increased 8%
- with such funding, it seems as though Chancellor Kirwan is ready to propose a tuition freeze to the Board of Regents
- with a tuition freeze with the third straight year, Maryland public institutions will drop in cost from 6th in the nation (2005) to 16th (2008)

Governor O'Malley has worked hard over the past months with the legislature to maintain funding for higher education in order to keep tuition down. Even though the State is struggling economically, the Governor and the Legislature made higher education a priority by minimizing cuts from the Governor's proposed budget.

So where from here? In the coming weeks, I will be working with campus-based administrators, students, and faculty to see if we can address some of the issues related to textbook sales for the coming fall semester that were not addressed this session. These issues will include:
- publishing ISBN numbers, textbook editions, and other details on the selection of textbooks
- publishing this information well in advance of the start of the semester
- working with professors to submit textbook selections well in advance of the semester to give the bookstore ample time to place orders
- ensuring that professors are made aware of and consider the cost of potential textbook selections

Have questions, thoughts, or concerns? Contact me: (410) 294-8581 or joshmichael@umbc.edu

SGA Presidential Candidate Debates

The Election Board will be hosting a debate between the three President/Vice President tickets this week. Be sure to attend or submit questions beforehand to him via email (jmccaul1@umbc.edu). UMBCtv will be filming the debates, so they should be viewable after the fact via the UMBCtv website.

When: This Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

Where: Student Organizations Space, 2nd floor of the Commons building (between Flat Tuesdays and the Gameroom)

Teacher Ratings Update

Well everyone, after much time, energy, and threats of physical violence, the compilation of the teacher ratings are very nearly complete. All we need to do now is get them up on the web and it will be over. Until that time though, I thought I would give you all a sneak peek of stats I thought were most interesting, the individual department rankings.

As you may know, the data that was used in these ratings were taken from the SCEQ bubble sheets that we all fill out at the end of each semester. The criteria I used in the judging were whether new insights/skills were learned, preparedness of the lectures, instructor interest in the subject, clarity of lecture material, and the overall effectiveness of the instructor. Each of these criteria were weighted differently also- insights, preparedness, and clarity were each 10%, instructor interest was 15%, and overall effectiveness was 55%. Everything is based on a 5 point scale with 5 being the best. The ratings are taken from the results for fall '07.

So, with that explanation out of the way, the top five departments were:

1. Archaeology 4.74/5
2. Greek 4.73/5
3. Admin Studies- Accounting 4.64/5
4. Music 4.63/5
5. EHS 4.56/5
5. Latin 4.56/5

Congratulations to those professors for outstanding work. Now for the bottom five:

46. Computer Science 4.10/5
47. Physical Education 4.05/5
48. Chemistry 3.91/5
49. Science 3.88/5
50. Mech. Engineering 3.87/5

Better luck to those departments. Hopefully they are enjoying a stronger spring semester.

I hope everyone stays tuned for when the site goes up with not only the rest of the department power rankings, but the rankings for the individual teachers as well.

Non-Smoking Policy Forum

About two years ago, as I was only a few weeks into my membership as a Senator my freshman year, I remember having to vote on a campus wide issue - creating a non-smoking policy. This rule would ban smoking 20 feet from any entrance to a building on campus as well as anywhere on the Academic Corridor. With a majority vote from the SGA Senate along with the GSA and one of the staff senates, the policy passed without much attention from the UMBC community. The next semester, the policy officially started and was to be "enforced." SGA actually sponsored a forum for the campus community to voice their concerns, but few showed up. All of a sudden, signs of Designated Smoking Areas popped out of nowhere and ash trays seemed to disappear. After a semester of headaches and frustration, the confusion seemed to go away, not necessarily because it was working, but perhaps because people stopped caring.

Now, thanks to C.E.A.S. and UHS, people finally want to make this work. Working with Campus Police and Chief Williams, implementation and enforcement of this policy will hopefully be taken seriously. Next Wednesday the 9th, CEAS is going to be sponsoring a forum to talk about the policy and concerns about the details. As more information becomes available, I will update this post.

--ICE-- a Success

Last night I had the opportunity to attend --ICE--, an event sponsored by the SGA's Office of Diversity Affairs. The event focused on celebrating the various cultures comprising the UMBC community through a fashion show of various styles and some unique performances.

From colorful outfits to exciting dances (and even an intense display of weaponry) the event showcased the people who make our campus so unique - and such a wonderful place to learn, not only academically but about our world.

Several other upcoming cultural events include ASIA and Norouz. ASIA is by far the largest Asian cultural event of the year and is being held this Friday night. Norouz is hosted by the Persian Students Association. I had the opportunity to attend it last year and had a wonderful time. This year tickets for students to both events are free, so if you're looking for something to do on campus this weekend, stop by the Commons info desk and pick up yours.

Elani Odeyale Addresses Prove It Winner Selection

Today, Green Space was announced as the 2008 Prove It! Winning Proposal. A well-developed proposal, the space will be both practical and aesthetically pleasing, using a well-trafficked but underutilized space. This project is realistically achievable within the upcoming months, and the campus community will be invited to share in the creation of this project. Green Space serves as symbol of Prove It!, demonstrating the significant potential of academic innovation and student ingenuity. Especially given the monetary and time constraints of the intiative, we believe this proposal best represents the ideals of Prove It!. Congratulations, once again, to Michelle, David and Thomas.

As the chair of the Selection Committee, it is imperative that I express how impressed we were by these final proposals. Each of the Final Five projects presented a worthy addition to our campus. It's equally important to consider the combination of factors that impacted our decision. As I stated in this afternoon's ceremony, Prove It! challenged the entire campus community and reflected the realities of creating change on such a large scale. We are currently coordinating a meeting with the finalists to share recommendations for important modifications as well as the next steps for each of the finalists. I am excited to say that this will not be the last we hear of the final proposals.

Thank you to all who were involved with Prove It!--from the students who accepted the challenge to submit their ideas to the staff members who worked tirelessly on advertising efforts--you are greatly appreciated and should take pride in your role in such a ground-breaking initiative.

Sincerely,

Elani

Elani Odeyale
Vice President, SGA
Prove It! Selection Committee Chair

Interested in contributing to Zwybak? Send an email to com2@umbc.edu

SGA Presidential Candiates

There are three tickets vying for SGA's Presidential office this year. All three have created websites with information on their platforms for students interested in getting more information.

Michael “SteelWolf” Comberiate (running mate = Sonia Siddiqui): steelwolfforchange.com

Steve Gilmore (running mate = Tokunbo Elegbe): http://gilmore.umbcsga.org/

Elani Odeyale (running mate = David A. Indek): http://umbcnow.com/

Remember, voting will be held from April 21-April 23 via Blackboard.

Prove It Announcement Ceremony

Prove It is gearing up to announce the winning proposal this Wednesday, March 26th in the UC Plaza.

From the invitation:

Come celebrate student ingenuity and its contribution to the UMBC community at the unveiling of the winning Prove It! proposal.

The "Final Five" proposals are...

• Student Creative Center
• Transforming the Study Place
• Revamping the UMBC Pond
• Green Space
• Ropes and Challenge Course

As always, more information is available on the official Prove It website, including short videos detailing each of the proposals.

Tales from the America East Championship Game

UM-BC UM-BC UM-BC 1-2-3 GO BIG DAWGS! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF! So as most of you know, the UMBC Retrievers clinched the America East Conference championship this past Saturday with an 82-65 win over the Hartford Hawks. It was a sold out game, televised on ESPN2. The RAC was packed full of cheering fans, all waiting to see their Dawgs/Dogs make it to the Big Dance...the NCAA tournament. THEY DID IT!!! What an amazing game.

My day started bright and early. After getting two hours of sleep, I headed over to the RAC at 7am to hang with the pep band as they did two morning news spots courtesy of channel 13 at 7:15 and 7:45. I heard about this news spot via UMBC Underground, which had encouraged people to show up and cheer with the pep band. I showed up, as did five others, including Spirit Czar and True Grit. It was a tad chilly, but it was fun. After those festivities were over, I went to breakfast with some of the pep band (kudos to Jon for inviting me). Have any of you ever ridden in a car with someone who is just learning to drive stick? Thank God for seatbelts! Actually Jon did a pretty good job all things considered. Upon getting back to campus, I quickly consumed my eggs and pancakes, picked my seat (the good thing about getting there early...you get the seat you want), and helped spread Growl Towels throughout the student sections. By this time it's around 930...facepaint time!! A black paw on my left cheek and UMBC in alternating black and gold letters on the right. Props to the girls who were helping me with this...not sure who they are but after a couple of attempts, we got the UMBC worked out.

10am...students are lined up outside the entrance to the court, cheers of "UM-BC!" can be heard, growing ever more enthusiastic as the Retriever fever builds. Once they're let in, the students swarmed the seating areas, everybody figuring out where the different seating sections were, and trying to find their friends. It appeared as though the first 1000 maybe 1500 people in got free tshirts. Let the school spirit commence! Growl Towels and "Go Retrievers" foam sticks were provided. Face paint and body paint abounded, and there was plenty on hand for those who didn't show up painted. I caught up with my friend Caitlyn, painted her face (half gold and half black, with the opposite paw color on each cheek) then we proceeded to paint most of the people around us. It started small, coercing a few people into getting facepaint, but soon people were lining up, all with different requests for painting. I lost track of how many people we painted.

As the seats began to fill up, and people were hesitant to leave their seats for fear of losing them, we moved throughout the bleachers on our side of the room, painting faces, arms, hands, etc. Armed with black and gold paint andGrowl Towels for wiping our hands between colors, we spread school spirit. The paws were the most popular, then half and half faces. It was easy to tell the people who hadn't done facepaint before...they were nervous but eager, asking for just something small. Many times they did it because their friends told them to, even though they were hesitant. We reassured them that it would easily wash off with soap and water.

Some students were willing to go all out and paint their whole face to show support for their retrievers, people like Brian D, Caitlyn, and others who came looking for facepaint. Others like myself and Michelle were a bit more conservative, but still joining the fun. Some people asked to get their arms or hands painted, generally under the excuse "I have to go somewhere after this" or "I have to go out tonight". Then there were those who, although sitting in student sections, had the audacity to show up displaying very little school spirit. *cough Brian O, Eric cough* These folks soon they weren't going to get away with that. I quickly demanded they submit themselves to my wonderful facepainting skills, and they wisely acquiesced. The most interesting part of facepainting was when an older gentleman asked me to paint a paw on top of his bald head. It made me laugh when one kid asked us if we were facepainting for free, and then almost kissed me on the cheek when I was done painting him, he was so excited. (The kiss was a cultural thing, I'm familiar with it from visiting my friends in Mexico).

Let the games begin! The players were introduced, we cheered for our starting lineup, and the ref tossed the ball. Hartford got possession after tipoff, and made the first shot. We quickly answered with a three pointer, Hartford made another two, and that was the last time they would see themselves in the lead. After the first five minutes, it was clear that UMBC was there to show Hartford how the Retrievers play basketball. For the rest of the game, UMBC's lead never went below nine points. The fans were incredibly excited, cheering our hearts out and killing our voices in support of our Dawgs/Dogs. By the last six minutes of the game, we were shouting "NCAA!" , "Warm up the bus!" and singing "Na-Na-Goodbye" to the Hartford fans. They had been less then enthusiastic throughout most of the game, but I guess when your team is down by an avg of 13 points for most of the game, it's kindof hard to cheer with any real hope.

Around the three minute mark, fans in the bleachers started moving down onto the track and into the lower student section in preparation for rushing the court at game's end. It was obvious that the game was ours, and we were simply playing for kicks and giggles at that point. As the game was ending, and the clock was expiring, the fans started running out onto the court...but wait! There's 0.7 seconds left! Get off the court! I wonder if they did it on purpose...Once the clock officially ran out, we rushed the court and the excitement was uncontainable. They played "Alma Matter" but of course noone knew most of the words, and for some reason they didn't put the lyrics up on the information board. The cheers of the fans so were loud they barely heard the announcer say "Please clear the court" so they could do closing ceremonies. I joined with some of the Mama's Boys in singing "We are the Champions" and spreading it through the crowd. Back up on the track, we watched the Retrievers cut down the net, and cheered as our boys were named allstars.

After the game, I caught up with Ryan and Elise and we talked about how exciting it was that UMBC was going to the NCAA and Maryland wasn't, also what an exciting opportunity it was for the seniors on the team. As everyone cleared out, I grabbed my bags and went outside to soak up the sun. Hey look, the pep band has CD's on sale. I'd been meaning to get one for a while, but wait, I don't have any $ on me. Time to run down to the commons and hit up the ATM. After asking a nice older lady with a Hartford shirt on to watch my stuff, I went down to the commons and flashed a cute smile to gain entrance (only VIPs for the reception were supposed to be going in and out). I let a couple other kids in behind me who were looking to get into the bookstore, ran up to the ATM, then went back over to the RAC and picked up my copy of the Down and Dirty Dawg Band's first CD, then thanked the Hartford lady for watching my bags. I put the CD away, called my dad to tell him where he would find me when he picked me up, and then draped myself across my bags. Towel over my eyes, I relaxed and dozed in the sun until it was time to go home.

Back home I said hi to the family, got cleaned up (I looked like hell by this point, having barely slept all week, much less the night before) and flopped down on my queen sized bed for a much needed nap. I finished out the evening by going out for dinner and a movie with my brother who I hadn't seen or talked to in about a month. We bumped into a friend of mine who goes to Maryland and quickly exercised bragging rights. After getting home and falling into bed exhausted from all the adventures of the day ( I was running on adrenaline all day), I woke up the next morning very pleased to discover my parents had opted to go to the later service at church, partially for my sake.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!! Watch for us Friday as we play Georgetown University in round one of the NCAA at 230pm EST. LET'S GO RETRIEVERS!!!

Many thanks to Zwybak reader pyrodancer for their contribution. Interested in seeing your post in this space? Send an email to com2@umbc.edu.

Men's Basketball Makes UMBC History

This afternoon the UMBC Retrievers made university history by soundly defeating Hartford 82-65 in the America East Conference championship game. Held for the first time on our home turf in a sold-out RAC, the win has given us our first-ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Notably absent from this tournament are the College Park Terrapins, giving us a unique opportunity to represent our state while thumbing our noses at our local rivals. Read the official press release here.

Congratulations UMBC!

Last Day to Apply for SGA

If you haven't already, you should definitely consider applying to run the SGA elections. It's an excellent way to get involved in the campus community and help to change it for the betterment of your fellow students.

Check out the application and other details on the election website. Even if you're deciding not to run, keep on the lookout for information on the various candidates so you can make informed voting decisions.

Best of luck to everybody who applies!

UMBC Takes Student Regent Position

The University System of Maryland (which includes schools like UMBC and College Park) is governed by a 17-member Board of Regents, one of which must be a full-time student from one of the USM schools.

This year, the position of Student Regent is being filled by a representative of UMBC - Joshua Michael, Director of Community and Governmental Affairs for SGA and a frequent Zwybak contributor.

Congratulations to Josh on being selected for this position and to UMBC for continuing to assert itself as one of the premier institutions of higher education in our state.

Prove IT! Videos are up

Just to let you know the Prove It! Finalist video blogs are posted and are available here:

http://sga.umbc.edu/proveit/studentresponse

feel free to take a peek and leave comments.

Experience vs. Innovation

I have had the opportunity to work closely with a number of administrators on a variety of issues this year. Many of these administrators have been involved with the university for decades and have been present for a number of changes and their long-term results. often this is in stark contrast to myself, a student who has only been here two years, will leave after four and obtains institutional knowledge only through personal experience and the accounts of others.

I have noticed that they significant experience amassed by many administrators has left them jaded in a way. For nearly every given situation they can regurgitate a comparable one in the university's history, complete with outcomes. Students such as myself, on the other hand, tend to believe that lasting solution can be found to a current problem if the right decisions are made.

This brings about a conflict of perspectives that I have yet to determine how to resolve. Am I naive to believe that the same problems experienced in the university's past need not recur? Does the wealth of knowledge held by many administrators help them make better decisions now, or does it make them less likely to try something innovative to resolve an old issue?

It may be a product of my youth, but I believe that there are solutions to problems. Because something similar didn't work in the past in the past is not a reason to try a tweaked version in the future. Perhaps the timing was off or a small detail was missing - but so long as no superior solutions has been found, it is worth trying. Maybe my views on how the university could improve are similar a product of my position in the opinion cycle. I like to think I am being innovative and finding creative solutions to our problems.

Call me arrogant, but I think my perspective (and those of others in my generation) is the one that is poised to inherit the future. We do not fall into the trap of believing that because something happened in the past, it will happen in the future. Experience is valuable and we need to learn all we can from our mistakes, but if we let our pasts cloud our ability to be visionary we cease to be effective.

I challenge my colleagues in the administration to try and view the university as organic. As it grows and develops we must be open to different ideas if we want to adapt and remain relevant. It is the institutions (both academic and otherwise) with the ability to change that will thrive - the others will flounder, realizing their fate only when the window of opportunity has long since closed.

UNC Student Body President Slain

Slain Woman Found Near UNC Was Student Body President

Posted: Today at 12:13 p.m.
Updated: 5 minutes ago

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Chapel Hill police have identified a woman found dead near the University of North Carolina campus Wednesday morning as the university's student body president.

Eve Carson, 22, a UNC senior, was found shot multiple times in the head about a half-mile from campus.

Police have issued a bulletin for Carson's blue 2005 Toyota Highlander with Georgia license plate AIV-6690.

Officers spent most of Wednesday and Thursday morning following up and searching for leads in the case. At a news conference Thursday, they called it a "fairly random crime."

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Chapel Hill Police Department at 919-968-2760.

Meanwhile, an informal gathering has been scheduled at UNC for 3 p.m. at Polk Place for the UNC community, Chancellor James Moeser said.

In a letter posted on the UNC Web site, Moeser described Carson as a wonderful person and a great friend.

"We are saddened and numb with grief," he said.

Carson, a native of Athens, Ga., was a Morehead scholar and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She was a pre-med major studying both political science and biology.

Original Link

Baltimore Sun: Cheer for this; UMBC Students in the Spotlight

The UMBC community has rallied behind the men's basketball season this year in a fury of school spirit. While students have come out in droves to the RAC, students have consistently left unsportsmanlike behavior at the door. David Steele, a lead sports columnist for the Baltimore Sun, highlights the outstanding school spirit and sportsmanship exuded by UMBC students this season.

In the article, Dr. Hrabowski highlighted the efforts that students have taken to make this positive school spirit a reality on our campus. Jake Steel spoke of the student initiatives throughout the season, as well as in recent conversations with Dr. Hrabowski.

Without a doubt, this type of student ownership and responsibility on campus will go a long way in strengthening shared governance and student involvement on the UMBC campus...

Update on Civil Marriage/Gay Rights in MGA

Here is a link to an update from the Baltimore Sun on more "moderate" alternatives to civil marriage.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.marriage06mar06,0,3511631.story

Study Groups- Do they benefit you?

In my time as the Director of Academic Affairs, I have gained a lot of experience in dealing with study groups. A lot of experience. But I wonder, do students actually benefit from them? There are scores of studies touting the positive impact of being in a study group on student's grades. That's nice, but I really would like to hear about experiences with study groups from students themselves. I am in the planning stages of having an application added to myUMBC that would allow students to form study groups through that interface. But I must ask, is this something that students want? So leave some comments, and let me know UMBC, are you in study groups? If so, do you feel benefits from them? If not, why not? I am really interested in your feedback.

Buses Available for Binghamton!

After going through the Senate and Finance Board, the SGA has approved of $12,000 towards 4 fan buses going up to Binghamton for the Men's Basketball game. Right now, 2 buses are about full, so if you are interested in going for just $12 a day, go to the Commons Info Desk to reserve your spot on one of the buses.

Student Fees

The Student Advocacy Dept. is currently working on advocating for a student activities fee increase. Please review and provide feedback over the following statement:

An increased Student Activities Fee will be extremely beneficial to the UMBC student body by providing more funding for SGA sponsored events, SEB events, and student organizations. These include T-Payne, Homecoming and its assorted events, Pre-game Tailgates, Ecofest, and the Stress-Free Zone .

The fee will also aid in increasing services to students such as library DVDs, Leadershape and Readership Programs, Prove It!, and many more

This fee, unlike all others, has not increased in the past 5 years and is becoming more limited each year with rising costs and inflation.

Here's some groovy links to find out more about this issue:

Dave's blog entry on the history of student fees
http://cocreateumbc.blogspot.com/2008/01/student-activity-fee-flatline.html

SGA budgets
http://sga.umbc.edu/budgets/


Regards,

The Student Advocacy Dept.

Commons - Weekend Rotation Schedule

For those of you who don't know, food services are doing an experimental opening of various stations in the commons on specific weekend dates over the course of the semester. They are doing this as a result of hearing many complaints from students about how the commons is never open on the weekends (leaving no room for variety, making the area seem dead to visitors on weekends, and to students who reside on campus). I am posting the dates and the specifics of the weekend rotation, so that everyone is aware of what they are and be available to attend. I recommend anyone and everyone who can choose to stay on campus for these weekends in particular and go to the commons between 11am and 5pm for lunch or early dinner to use a meal, or purchase something would be really beneficial. The more turn-out food services sees from these "trial openings" the more inclined they will be to make decisions in the future about possibly keeping it open on a more regular basis. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or concerns please let me know!

Commons - Weekend Rotation Schedule

Sunday 03/02/08 – Petes Arena and Subs
Saturday 03/22/08 – Sandellas and Market
Sunday 04/06/08 – Salsa Rico and Jazzmans
Saturday 04/19/08 – Petes Arena and Subs
Sunday 05/04/08 – Sandellas and Market
Saturday 05/17/08 – Salsa Rico and Jazzmans
(The locations listed will be open from 11am to 5pm. Grill 155 will open 4pm to 10:30pm.)
This schedule can also be seen on www.umbcdining.com

Walker Avenue Adds Gender-Neutral Housing; Still Discriminates Against Married Students

The folks over at UMBC Underground have confirmed that Walker Avenue Apartments will indeed be designating some of their existing spaces as gender-neutral. While this seems to be a good step toward accommodating many of UMBC's students, it frustrates me that both Walker and UMBC as an institution discriminate against married students.

Residential Life has neither gender-neutral nor married student housing, forcing students who have these needs to look for housing elsewhere in the community. However, when students move off campus (I mean actually off campus, not Walker) they are denied the portion of their scholarship funds that normally covers housing. This places these students in a frustrating catch-22, where they are essentially punished for their nonstandard needs.

While I have heard that Walker Avenue has allowed married students to share one of the singles, there are only two of them in the whole complex. On top of that, if your spouse is not a full-time UMBC student as well, you're out of luck. I understand the complications involved with trying to provide these kinds of specialized housing options - so why not allow students who fit these conditions to use their scholarship money to find a suitable place to live?

As Walker undertakes this "pilot program," I urge them to consider married students as well. Hopefully Walker Avenue Apartments can stand as an example to the rest of the university on how students of many different needs can be welcomed onto our campus.

Binghampton Trip Update

From Steve's update on a previous post:

The SGA Senate voted unanimously to provide $12,000 towards 4 fan buses for the Binghamton trip this weekend! The legislation will go through the Finance Board tonight at 5:30pm, and if passed there, we will have the capacity to send over 200 UMBC students to support our Men's Basketball team.

Keep in mind that the Office of Student Life has guaranteed funding for at least two of the buses, so if you know you're interested you can buy tickets now.

Go Dogs!

Reznor does it Right

If you've been following this blog (or my personal one) for some time, you may have read a few of my past comments about the entertainment industry and things like filesharing.

In my mind, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has made a big stand in the music world this week and decided to do things right. The first of the four albums in the set has been released for free either from his site or through popular Bittorrent trackers. The others are available through the tiered system of fees depending on how much physical material you want. The $5 for the complete digital set is little more than a donation - one I think many music fans would be happy to pay even if they downloaded the other three albums from alternative sources. The best part? All of the tracks are full quality, can be downloaded in lossless format, and are licensed under Creative Commons. This means you can use the songs essentially however you want, so long as you aren't trying to profit from them.

I would recommend checking out this instrumental effort by Trent and the band if you haven't already - after all, it's free.

Student Orgs and Money

I've just finished contacting a large number of student organizations who turned in budgets but didn't receive a whole lot of their requests in order to remind them that can and should apply for SGA funds by Additional Allocation. Emails went out to the President and Treasurer of all those clubs as listed in their Initial Budget Requests. So my conclusion is if you're a student organization and you have an event that you would like to see happen and need money for it, come ask for it. This is especially true for organizations that haven't receive any money or even very little this year from the SGA. If your president and treasurer didn't get an email from me, but you still want funding for more events please still do apply.

On the subject of Student Organizations and money, it has occurred to me that we are in danger of facing a situation where the fiscal year will end (June 30th) and a lot of funds that were given out for events will come back to the SGA. Some organizations have been contacted by my staff in order for us (the SGA) to try and help you spend your money and make these events happen. If your organization has received a lot of money and is facing difficulty with planning or executing an event please contact me and either I will help you or I will get someone to help you. If you have money left over from events that were less expensive or that didn't happen, reallocate those funds to something else. Let's see this year end with a bang and increase the number of happenings on campus from student orgs.

indek1@umbc.edu

Sharing Zwyback Stories Online

^^^^^^^^^^

See that button? When you mouse over it a bunch of different options pop up that allow you to share Zwybak stories on your favorite social websites, such as Facebook. Simply click on the Facebook link among the options that pop up and it will open a window that allows you to post the story on your page. This is great if you're an author and have written something you are extra-proud of or if you've read something that you think is significant and would benefit from additional discussion.

Try it out and be sure to send any feedback my way.

Retention and Woolies

This was a busy day for me. I attended a 3-hour Retention Working Group meeting this morning with faculty, staff, and administrators from across campus, and I was amazed to see a bunch of statistics comparing entering freshmen and transfers from 1995 up to the present. However, the discussion after the presentation really impressed me. People came to the conclusion that we have all of this data about which students are more likely to have struggles at UMBC and have a greater chance of not graduating, but helping to prevent that is a challenge in itself. How do you advise a student to take a lesser course load without sending the message that you don't believe they can make it? A lot of students don't realize that there are some good people trying to improve the undergraduate experience and truly care about student success.

This afternoon, I met with Lee Calizo, Cindy Paige, and Jackie Wilson about possibly moving the SGA Retreat earlier so that SGA members can go through Woolie training for Welcome Week. It seems like on the housing end, this would definitely be feasible. Woolies bring so much energy for the start of the school year, and I'm hoping that by adding numbers, Welcome Week can be even better for new students. If you are interested in being a Woolie (or an Orientation Peer Advisor, shameless plug), follow the link below.


http://www.umbc.edu/orientation/leaders.html

CGA in action this past week

i initially wanted to post parts of this as a comment on the Defining Marriage in MD wall but i thought it would be a good idea to post it as a new blog to show , many times we debate issues, and josh and i do not agree all the time, and the cga is not perfect- contrary to popular belief ;p

the past monday cga had a meeting to discuss what the course of action for the next month or so. heres my version of the minutes.

brian frazee is in the final steps of finalizing the red card initiative, which saves us students some change around the community when presented at a place of business. For more on the red card initiative go here-http://sga.umbc.edu/redcard/.

stephanie is heading up the voter registration. if you need to register to vote please do and if you need a registration card you can either print one out here or come pick one up at the sga office.

ive been brainstorming the idea of having a cga poll function on myUMBC so that we can, at times, get a better feel of what the 'beat' on campus is ive set up a mtg with collier jones in oit and am hoping to have that option ready to roll soon.

josh has been lobbying in annapolis pretty much every other day on textbook, tuition, and tuition reembursement legislation.

in other news josh and i have had an ongoing discussion about lobbying in regards to gay marriage legislation in annapolis.

ill try to quote myself. at the past cga mtg to provide my opinion-

'this is sticky. people have very strong opinions about this issue. one side or the other. it would be very difficult to represent the entire campus on this issue. regardless of our stance people will be pissed and polarized. abstenance is 100% effective at certain points in time.'

'there are ceratin bills that the entire campus (or pretty damn close to the entire campus) would be in favor of and by supporting the cga would give a voice to the entire campus in annapolis on these issues, (ie text books being cheaper, a dedicated source of funding for higher ed, tuition reembursement, etc.).'

just wanted to fill everyone in, briefly, what the cga has been doing.

Vote for AEC Player of the Year

Two of UMBC's players have been nominated for player of the year in the America East Conference. Anybody can vote so long as they enter their name and email address. Both Jay Greene and Brian Hodges are representing UMBC; however, you are only allowed to vote for one.

http://www.americaeast.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=1399016&DB_OEM_ID=14000

Men's Basketball Goes to Binghamton!

For those who haven't seen the Facebook group, there are talks of sending buses to Binghamton next weekend for UMBC students to support the Men's Basketball team as they compete in the America East Tournament as the #1 seed.

http://umbc.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10472784618

The SGA has been trying to work with Athletics, RSA, and other organizations to make this happen. There is a proposal, that must go through the Senate and Finance Board first, to fund buses to go up to Binghamton, relieving students of this cost. However, there are still questions of liability (whether students can stay over night for the next day's game), handling of tickets, and how to get students on those buses.

After funding 3 tailgates this year, I'm really hoping that funding a trip for students to watch the team play will really make an impact on school spirit at UMBC. Please keep your eyes and ears open for updates on this amazing opportunity.

*UPDATE - 3/4/08*

The SGA Senate voted unanimously to provide $12,000 towards 4 fan buses for the Binghamton trip this weekend! The legislation will go through the Finance Board tonight at 5:30pm, and if passed there, we will have the capacity to send over 200 UMBC students to support our Men's Basketball team.

The Teacher Ratings Book

Hey everyone, I checked the website for Intstitutional Research and they finally have the results of the SCEQ's from fall 2007 up! This means production of the teacher rating's book I've been talking about can finally begin. I already have put together a test page that I will be bringing to the Cabinet meeting tonight so if you want to see it, stop by.

I need help though if this book is going to get done by the time class registration starts up for next fall. There is a lot of data to go through so if you want to help me, shoot me an e-mail. I am so excited for this book, it's gonna rock! Stay tuned for more updates.

The Final Five

The announcement is in - five finalists have been selected from the twenty-two submitted Prove It proposals. Congratulations to everybody who submitted a proposal! If you were not among the finalists, your group should be receiving feedback from the selection committee as soon as we can get everything compiled. It is my hope that at least some of the groups will be able to make a few key modifications and perhaps continue to work with the contacts they developed to make their ideas happen even outside of Prove It.

At any rate, brief summaries of the five finalists are below, kindly provided by Elizabeth Silberholz of The Retriever Weekly.

• Revamping the UMBC Pond: Improve the Library Pond's sanitary and maintenance system, landscape the area around the pond, and add a deck area.
• Student Creative Center: Establish a Student Creative Center where students could have 24/7 access to art supplies and tools.
• Transforming the "Study Place": Add dining and lounge options to the Study Place.
• Ropes and Challenge Course: Add a ropes and challenge course on campus to encourage team-building and leadership training.
• Green Space: Create a green space near the Fine Arts building

A feedback system for each of these proposals will be launching next week which will allow the various groups to provide direct responses to your comments; in the meantime you are welcome to leave comments and feedback here or elsewhere.

Textbook bill hearing provokes tense debate - News

Textbook bill hearing provokes tense debate - News

Global Solutions Act

So in case you haven't heard the exciting news, Governor O'Malley is trying to decrease
Maryland's carbon footprint by proposing the Global Solutions Bill!

Here's a link to official press release:
http://www.governor.maryland.gov/pressreleases/080219b.html

Here's a copy of the proposed bill:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/billfile/sb0309.htm

This is my interpretation of the bill:

The purpose of this bill is to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in the
state of Maryland.

This is to create grants and programs to support local government in
implementing this policy. This creates the Office of Climate Change under
the Maryland Environment Department. Its duties include: making sure
that the companies maintain the low emission practices, enforcing the
limits, and keeping all the records public. They are also charge with
public relations. I'm assuming this means promoting what they are doing.

They get their their funding through RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative (http://www.rggi.org/). Basically RGGI establishes a
cap-and-trade policy with polluting companies. A cap-and-trade policy is
where the government issues a certain number of permits that allow a
company to pollute. The companies are free to trade these permits with
each other. This allows for some companies, that are already green, to
perhaps have more permits to sell to another company who isn't as
green-saavy. But the objective here is that with the limited amount of
permits, one can control the amount of pollution, without giving a huge
financial burden on the companies straight away.

If the state cannot make enough money to support the new office with these
funds, they will implement a fee of four cents/ton of CO2 emitted. Still
unsure of the amount of that MD produces, hard to find on internet...
either way, with the new Climate Change Taskforce on campus, UMBC will
soon have numbers stating the amount that we emit, and in that way, UMBC
is most definitely affected.

The last important note to mention is the power of the Governor to declare
an Energy Emergency. If he does this, he is permitted (with the approval
of a committee) to delay the requirements of greenhouse gas emissions by
1 calendar year.

The numbers are as follows:

By 2012- 10% reduction in GHG according to 2006 levels
2015- 15%
2020- 25%
2050- 90%

If you have any questions, please email me (or comment here) at lipinsk1@umbc.edu

*Chef's Fare-Wednesday 2/27

Come out to what is called the "Chef's Fare" this coming Wednesday night in the dining hall! The Chef's Fare is a night where other chefs from various schools are invited to compete with UMBC's chef. The idea is you enter the dining hall and the chef's prepare their specialty dish for everyone to sample, and at the end you get a chance to vote on which dish you liked most. Our very own chef has traveled to two other events so far this semester and has come out victorious on both occasions! If you see an item you've never seen before, you're encouraged to try it. It is very important that you go to the dining hall Wednesday night and participate in this event because it could have a beneficial impact on you. If you like what you tried (no matter which chef made it), and whatever was offered becomes popular, then sodexho will add it to their program, and you will see it more often throughout the semester. All of the chefs have culinary degrees, and are qualified to work at hotels and restaurants, so there will be some quality competition to say the least... come HUNGRY!