Should the library be open longer than 12 AM?

So some SGA Senators have been discussing the current operating hours of the AOK Library. UMBC seriously lacks a study place where students can study, what is considered, "after hours." Although the atrium is open 24/7, the library closes at 12 on school nights and earlier over the weekends except Sunday. Personally, I've always found the atrium space not big enough for all the students that head down there once the semester really starts back up. There aren't enough tables, and there surely don't seem to be enough outlets. Compared to our peer institutions as well, like U of Alabama or U of Arkansas and others, our library closes down 2-3 hours earlier every school night.

In an attempt to understand the situation better, we contacted Larry Wilt, Director of the Library and spoke to him about this issue. We talked about possibly only having one or two floors of the library open for an extended period of time - 2 to 3 hours every night. While the library understood the need to extend hours, he told us that the current budget could not possibly support such a venture. With this economy and the budget cuts, finding money to fund another 2 hours of running the library becomes much harder as well. According to Larry Wilt, Director fo the AOK library, research was done in 2003 to come up with estimated costs of extending the library hours by 2 hours every night of the week. For Fiscal Year 2003, costs came up to about $35,000. We can add inflation costs to that and come up with a rough idea for costs for now.

So here is our question:

1. Would longer library hours help us? Would you want to see the AOK library hours extended?

Public Transcript Fee Discussion

Tonight, the SGA Senate hosted an open discussion with Yvette Mozie-Ross (Vice Provost for Enrollment Management) and Dr. Steve Robinson (Registrar) about the $8 per transcript fee that students are being charged. This is a discussion that has been going on with administrators and SGA members for some time, but tonight involved both SGA members and about forty other concerned students.

I was very excited to see so many students take the time out of their evening to attend this meeting. Their commentary was both insightful and respectful, and those present demonstrated a willingness to work towards some kind of a compromise that would help alleviate the current burden on the student body. At this time, the sentiment of compromise was not reflected in the responses by Mozie-Ross and Robinson.

Because Credentials, Inc. charges only $2 for their transcript processing, many questions were raised by students about where the additional $6 was going. While no budgetary figures were presented by Mozie-Ross and Robinson, one area where money was described as going toward was the development of digital transcripts in a secure .pdf format, that would expire after a certain amount of time.

The minutes from this meeting will be posted as usual on SGA's announcements blog. I'm interested in hearing any further reactions to the meeting from students who had to leave early or were unable to attend.

Finally, it was stated by Mozie-Ross that when the transcript fee was still in the planning stages, she and Robinson consulted with then-SGA president, Jay Lagorio, along with the president of the Graduate Student Association. She said that a $10 fee was proposed to Jay, and after objections were voiced a "compromise" of $8 per transcript was reached.

I took the liberty of contacting Jay myself, and he said he was initially approached about a low per transcript fee that would be under $5. He raised objections to something that high, but agreed that $1-2 would be reasonable to pay for better transcript services (incidentially, $2/transcript is what Credentials charges). Jay also supported the development of a secure .pdf transcript format because that way, graduating students could get a single transcript and use it again and again, since there is no envelope to unseal and a digital signature would verify that the document had not been altered. Clearly, a .pdf with an "expiration date" runs contrary to this idea.

Hopefully this information will resolve any confusion in the minds of students about the role of last year's SGA administration in this process. Contact information for people involved is as follows:

Jay Lagorio: lagorio1@umbc.edu
Yvette Mozie-Ross: mozie@umbc.edu
Dr. Steve Robinson: robinsos@umbc.edu
Gabe Rettaliata (current Speaker of the SGA Senate): gabriel2@umbc.edu
Myself: michael.c@umbc.edu

Walter Snowheim Update

From Zwybak!

Several of Zwybak's loyal readers sent in pictures of UMBC's Walter Sondheim having fun in the snow - including the awesome students who did it. Jordan, Mariah, Ian, and Ian's pals are welcome to come by the SGA office this week and collect your rewards.

I've added the pictures to the Zwybak gallery, so they should be showing up in "recent pictures" soon. Or, just click the link to go there now.

Walter Snowheim

It looks like one of UMBC's patrons, Walter Sondheim, had some fun in the snow last night. He's been decked out in a crazy new outfit. If anybody reads this before the snow melts and sends me a picture I can put up here ( silversteelwolf@gmail.com ), come up to the SGA office in the Commons and I'll give you a prize.

Disclaimer: the prize is a five-pronged massager. That's two more prongs than your typical massager!

Higher Education Rally in Annapolis, October 2007

I just posted a follow-up to legislative lobbying that many of us participated in during the fall of 2007 over at USMstudents.  I thought you might might enjoy a few photos...







(Never thought I would see Steelwolf so happy in the presence of the Governor...)

Victory (Tastes Like Chicken)

Despite some of the rough patches we've had with the food services transition, I admit I felt pretty darn good walking into the UC a few minutes ago and seeing the newly opened Chick-fil-a. After signing up for a 10-meal plan, I walked through the Commons to kill time while I waited for the "system to come back" so they could actually activate my meal plan - and saw the new pizza place with delicious-looking food.

I think we continue to make progress on food services, although we are still shackled to the archaic idea of meal zoning. Please continue to make both SGA and Food Services aware of ongoing issues, and remember that Chartwell's can be contacted directly via their feedback form.

Attention: UMBC Downtown Line Riders

As many students who use the Downtown Line to get into Baltimore already know, the service has experienced some upheaval over the past semester. In the past, the line has been operated as a partnership between UMBC and UMB, with a large percentage of the ridership being UMB personnel traveling to and from the 195 park and ride.

This fall, UMB opted to discontinue financial support for the line. Thanks to the combined efforts of UMBC undergraduate and graduate students, the line continues to operate (albeit on a reduced schedule).

A problem that has existed before this trouble started is the limited number of seats on the buses. Rather than allow riders to stand, presumably for safety reasons, the buses frequently leave passengers behind. When combined with the new limited schedule, these abandoned riders must wait at least a full hour for the next bus.

From my perspective, I feel that since UMBC has opted to abosrb the cost of maintaining this service, UMBC undergraduate and graduate students should be given priority when passengers are being seated. We are charged transit fees every semester to pay for this transit line, so it seems especially unfair for us to be left behind.

I'm interested to hear your comments about this issue, especially if you use this or any of the other UMBC Transit bus lines. I've also sent this post directly to UMBC Transit; they can be reached at transit@umbc.edu.

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.