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.