UMBC WINS

UMBC: 71

UNH: 68

What a game - go Retrievers! I have never seen the RAC so full of people as I did tonight. There was so much energy in the room and it felt wonderful to have so many fellow students cheering our team on along with me. I'm sure a lot of the other authors here and on other sites are going to have a lot to say about the complete experience so I don't want to steal too much of their thunder. However, the official athletics site is a little slow on the uptake with these wins and somebody has to put it out there on the internet.

Congratulations to the residence halls for putting on such a display of support - here's to making this a tradition for years to come. I believe Patapsco won but I always get it mixed up with Potomac so I'm going to try to avoid embarrassing myself until somebody else can verify for me. Potomac produced an outstanding show of support and should feel proud of the massive trophy they will get to display until next year.

A few other highlights: my roommate Matt Basch rocked the drums with the Pep Band, my friend Danielle made it to the top of the cheerleader pyramid a bunch of times, the announcer screwed up his introduction of Baton Stacy, the dance team took their shirts off, and Jen Kent wants to marry Brian Hodges (#24).

Hooray Seniors!

So I've been really interested in the idea of a senior gift for a little while now. My original vision was something similar to the inner harbor crabs (if you've ever seen them). I really wanted each class to be able to paint/decorate a statue that would be displayed somewhere on campus. Not only would this be fun, but it would also increase school spirit and retention (two issues I'm very interested in).

After thinking about it further, however, I realized a lot of potential issues with this idea.

1) What are we going to do in 60 years when there is an overcrowding of statues?

2) Who would pay for the materials?
And a few more problems. So that kind of put a hold on things.

Anyways, that's where I was at the end of last semester. Fast forward to this semester:

I met with Phil Recchio of the Alumni Association a couple of weeks ago about this idea. The meeting was really interesting; he had a completely different vision for a senior gift than I did. Phil wanted to do a literal "gift"- he would like to see the senior class raise money that would go towards a scholarship for a needy student.

The details haven't been worked out or anything, but the basic idea is this:

Seniors would donate money (through basic donations or admission fees to various events), and recieve prizes (t-shirts, mugs, etc.). There would be a selection process, and that money that was raised would go to one (or potentially more) needy students. Apparently there are other institutions that do a similar program, so it does work.

While I do think that this is a cool idea, I'm not sure if it is something that the SGA should be involved in. This idea would really only benefit a few students, and would only involve the senior class. The reason that I think an actual, physical senior gift is an okay project for the SGA to take on in that it does have a bigger effect- it could increase school spirit, improve campus, and/or increase retention rates depending on the gift.

I'm still thinking about this idea, and will try to get some program in place if not this year, definitely next year. For this year, I at least want to do some sort of senior week, with discounts and prizes, and anything else that I can think of. Any suggestions?

From College Park...Friedson delivers State of the Campus - News

Friedson delivers State of the Campus - News

A possible idea to broaden visibility and influence on campus?

-Josh

Bill aims to keep tuition rate flat for 4 years - News

Bill aims to keep tuition rate flat for 4 years - News

See coverage on College Park's independent newspaper, the Diamondback, on newly introduced legislation.

-Josh

A Day in Annapolis...

I just got back from Annapolis a few minutes ago. I attended for three main reasons today:
1. attend the Budget hearing for UMBC in the House of Delegates
2. attend a hearing on SB 15 (http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/bills/sb/sb0015f.pdf), SB 40 (http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/bills/sb/sb0040f.pdf), and SB 591 (http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/bills/sb/sb0591f.pdf)-- all bills addressing in-state tuition for non-legal residents
3. attend a hearing on SB 81 (http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/bills/sb/sb0081f.pdf) and SB 657 (http://mlis.state.md.us/2008RS/bills/sb/sb0657f.pdf)- bills addressing the selection and sale of textbooks

Budget Hearing
At the Budget hearing in the House, President Hrabowski did a masterful job representing our institution. Highlighting the research strengths, diversity, rising retention rates, and others, Dr. Hrabowski impressed legislators. He highlighted some of our challenges, including a limited number of bachelor's degrees, our age, and cost-cutting measures over the past decade, he stressed the importance of full-funding. The Department of Legislative services suggested cutting 6.8 million from our budget--Dr. H stressed why it was so important for the legislature to maintain funding. Further questions were raised about our distribution of financial aid, comparing the rates of financial aid for athletes at UMBC to College Park. Our rates for need are reserved about 19% for athletes, while at College Park, the rate is 7%. Dr. Hrabowski responded that much of our "financial need" aid is hidden in the name of merit scholarship via the scholarship programs and university scholarships. He highlighted that this money is more likely to attract students when it is "prestigious." Yet, I think this is something we might want to look more into. Finally, questions were raised regarding the capacity and efficiency of our teacher education program. We have consistently decreased over the past few years and graduate somewhere around 40 teachers a year. Dr. Hrabowski distracted these comments by highlighting the Sherman Scholars program and our work in STEM (Science, techonology, engineering, and math) fields, as well as in high-needs schools. In fact, the highlight students for the presentation were two Sherman Scholars. Yet, what was not highlighted was our extremely low number of teachers and our inability to cosnsitently attract teacher candidates to pursue STEM fields outside of the Sherman program. In all, Dr. Hrabowski was masterful as usual--expect UMBC to fare well in the budget process.

In-state tuition for Illegal Aliens
I was out of the room for most of this hearing, but did have the opportunity to testify on Senate Bill 15. If you recall, SB 15 does not allow legal in-state residents, who currently receive in-state tuition discounts, to actually receive this commodity. Wherein students at UMBC would be significantly impacted, I spoke on behalf of the SGA against the use of the language "citizen" as opposed to "legal resident." I was specific in delineating that the UMBC SGA was not taking a position on the bill otherwise. An amendment ended up being proposed by the sponsor to change the language to allow legal residents to receive in-state tuition.

Many individuals came to speak for this bill. My analysis is that this bill will pass. It passed in 2003, but was vetoed by Governor Ehrlich. With a new Governor, I see this bill passing and being signed.


Textbook Legislation
Okay--so there are two major bills here that were up for consideration. The first, SB 81, requires universities to publish textbook lists once submitted by the professor. It also requires the publication of ISBN numbers to help students identify their textbook at other sources. I testified in support of this bill with slight amendments. First, I testified explaining that textbook selections should not be submitted until the process of ensuring textbook availability is finalized. Sometimes, if a professor selects a book that is unavailable, they are forced to select a different book. This would ensure that students do not purchase the wrong textbook in this case. We also proposed a deadline for submission of textbook selections six weeks before classes begin. Our comments were in agreement with those of the University System of Maryland.

SB 657- This bill is very complex (see links attached). Here are the points we talked on:

• Support requiring textbook publishers to provide information regarding the costs and changes to textbooks (B & C)
• Oppose quantifying textbook material with a percentage and requiring professors to follow rigid guidelines for selecting textbooks (D)
• Support restrictions on bundling (E)
• Support early publication of textbook selections (G)
• Support publishing details pertaining to textbook selections (G)
• Oppose limiting the use of revenues specifically to the use of lowering textbook costs; many of these revenues are used to offset costs across campus and contribute to financial aid for students (H)

I summarized stressing the importance of passing some sort of bill--taking baby steps. Textbooks are very expensive, and while legislators and administrators like to consider textbooks to be a mandatory cost of education, students often do not purchase textbooks. And if students do not have textbooks, they will likely struggle in their courses. The more expensive textbooks become, the more unlikely students will be to buy them.


Feel free to comment on these bills and others.

Until next time,
Josh

Welcome New Readers

Since we've recently been added to the list of feeds appearing on myUMBC, I want to welcome everybody who may be visiting this space for the first time. If the name has you thinking "wtf?" I invite you to click the "wtf?" tab at the top of the page for an explanation.

Zwybak is maintained by members of the Student Government Association and we use this space to comment on UMBC as well as share the current goings-on in and around our offices.

I invite you to explore some of our more recent posts and leave comments if you feel so inclined. You can also use the "bookmark" button not only to add a particular page to your bookmarks, but also to share the link via sites like Facebook.

That's all for now - enjoy the ride. Zwybak!

Holy Moly - Free Microsoft Software

I was just notified of a new program Microsoft has unveiled. Called "DreamSpark," it is essentially a way for specific organizations to have free access to a number of Microsoft files. The article announcing the news is available here, but the real news is that UMBC is involved. UMBC students can have access to all of these titles simply by entering their myUMBC username and password.

UPDATE: To clarify on actually logging in - you have to be signed in with a Windows Live account. If you already have one just use that; otherwise you can quickly create one. After that, you can go to any product page and the "Verify" link will now be available. Click that and select your region, country, and school (we're listed as University of Maryland, Baltimore County). It will then prompt you to log in via myUMBC and all of the software will now be available for download. If you have any problems with this process post in the comments and one of us will try to help out.

A complete list of the available software can be accessed here, and includes titles like Windows Server 2003 and XNA Game Development studio.

I encourage you to check this remarkable opportunity.

the (book) retriever update

so the book swap idea. might as well give people an update.

1. went to oit- oit digs the idea (by the way collier jones is the man for putting barry white on myumbc).

2.oit wants the bookstore directors and vp of financial ops approvals. if approvals are given it will be a go for fall 08.

3. went to get approvals- bookstore director digs the idea- alluded to the idea that the bookstore wants in, but wants a membership fee to have the function work. mike and i are not a big fan of charging people to swap books between each other. trying to avoid that. however bookstore could help us with advertisement- still want to avoid charging people. mainpoint here is that bookstore director approves. so one down one to go.

4. email conversations with vp is happening. this person is impossible to get a meeting with. meeting on 3/3/08. if this one goes through were gonna get the ok from oit and *fingers crossed* book swap will be up in fall.

illegal instate tuition- a good idea?

over the past few years there has been a great deal of debate as to whether illegal immigrants should have the same educational rights as legal residents. in the past i have been a proponent of denying these individuals such rights. personally i had felt instate tuition costs at institutions of higher education should be given to those whose parents paid into our system and therefore should have a lower cost of education.

my past month has been filled with lobbying issues and debates in preparation for the state senate meetings in the near future. josh michael (director of the cga) and i have been involved in several discussions as to what the sgas stance on certain bills will be.

this past week i overheard a debate on this very topic between david hoffman and another individual whose beliefs are in line with the aforementioned views.

a turning point in my beliefs came when david, playing devils advocate, stated,

'what about minors who moved here when they were 8 years old and had no control of what their parents did?'

'these individuals have paid into our system in other ways- sales tax, etc.'

'wouldn't it be a great ideal to aspire to- if you can work hard enough to get in- you will be able to afford it.'

i began to think- i could be that person that moved here when i was 8 years old and have had to make a choice once out of highschool- provide for myself and quite possibly a needy family or place myself waist deep in debt and deny my family another source of income.

i kinda understand the logistics of it all- USMSC and the state gov. are having a difficult time providing low tuition for md residents as is and they may not be able to support more people. with that said it would be a fantastic aspiration. if you can get in- we can make it affordable.

just some ideas to think about.

god college is making me a hippie, tree hugging, hybrid driving liberal...

Another good distraction...

If you use Meebo you already know about these online games from their latest blog post, but for everybody else I thought I would share another fun online distraction: Tower Bloxx.

The concept is simple - drop building pieces from a swinging crane on top of each other to try and build the straightest tower. The better you build, the more people will move into the building. Place completed buildings on city blocks and try to build your population. Addictive.