SCORING SISTERS: Behind Catie and Libby May, Maryland women’s lacrosse cruises in opener, p. 12
ACID FOR THE CHILDREN: A new side to Flea, p. 8
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state politics
Collins family will take to state capital
community
LIFT EVERY VOICE & SING
They will advocate for changes to hate crime law A day after a judge anChristine Condon nounced her son’s killer was @CChristine19 acquitted on a hate crime Senior staff writer charge, Dawn Collins assured the media she’d take to Annapolis to broaden Maryland’s hate crime statute. And on Tuesday, she will. Maryland’s House and Senate are poised to hear companion bills that would make it so that hate doesn’t need to be the sole motivation behind a crime for a person to be charged with a hate crime. If passed, “certain actions motivated either in whole or in part by another person’s or group’s race” could be considered hate crimes in Maryland, according to a description on the General Assembly’s website. The bill is named after 2nd Lt. Richard Collins, a black Bowie State student, who was killed by former University of Maryland student Sean Urbanski on this school’s campus in 2017. Urbanski, who is white, approached Collins with his pocket knife at the ready, and, unprovoked, stabbed the ROTC student in the chest. During Urbanski’s trial, prosecutors presented evidence from his cellphone, including a handful of racist memes that made frequent use of the n-word and racist stereotypes. But Urbanski’s defense attorneys argued the prosecutors failed to connect the racist images to the killing. Ultimately, the judge agreed, and tossed the hate crime charge aside. Throughout their arguments, the defense attorneys argued Urbanski could have chosen to stab Collins for other reasons, including that, after Urbanski approached Collins and two others, shouting nonsensical commands, Collins was the only person who said “no.” In a press conference held shortly after Urbanski’s first-degree murder conviction, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy hinted her office would push for legislation adjusting the hate crime statute to include cases where other motives, in addition to hate, might have existed. “Other people in our community — in the future — will be able to get the justice that they deserve,” Braveboy said at the time. by
By Jillian Atelsek | @jillian_atelsek | Senior staff writer
julia nikhinson / the diamondback
A Prince George’s County resident is on a mission to convince basketball teams to play the “Black National Anthem.” Last week, UMD became one of them.
Eugene Williams sat in his darkening living room last week, smiling as the sun set through the window behind him. “Alexa,” he called out. “Play ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ by Beyoncé.” He let the sound wash over him. The song — often referred to as the “Black National Anthem” — is a rich, soaring hymn, its melody a slowly building crescendo. “It gives me a sense of liberation,” Williams said. “It inspires me. It exhilarates me.” “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written about 120 years ago as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, an NAACP leader and prominent artist during the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson’s brother later set the words to music, and Williams, like many other black Americans, grew up singing the song right alongside “The Star-Spangled Banner.” For more than two years, Williams, now a 78-year-old Clinton, Maryland, resident, has made it his mission to convince basketball teams across the country — professional and collegiate alike — to play the tune before games begin. And last week, the University of Maryland obliged. Before Maryland basketball’s victory over Rutgers Tuesday night, Maryland Gospel Choir singers Tiffany Blossom and Erin Stewartson performed “Lift Every Voice” in front of a sizable Xfinity Center crowd. Williams couldn’t be there, but news of the performance made him “jubilant,” he said. University athletics spokesperson Jason Yellin said the department was “thrilled” to share the song with the crowd. He added, though, that there aren’t any plans to make it a recurring tradition. “That’s the night that it was going to be played because that was the night we were celebrating Black History Month,” Yellin said. Since he began his mission in 2017, Williams has seen considerable success. He spends his days reaching out to sports teams’ spokespeople by phone, introducing himself tiffany blosson, top, of the Maryland Gospel Choir, performs at Tuesday’s game. Bottom: Eugene Williams keeps a collection of baseball caps lined up on the piano in his Clinton, Md. home. photos by julia nikhinson / the diamondback See Anthem, p. 7
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state politics
Proposed bill aims to boost student voting It would require most Maryland colleges to host a polling place on campus University of Maryland community members testified before the House of Delegates on Thursday, lobbying for a bill that aims to increase student voter participation. The Student Voter Empowerment Act proposes that both public and private universities with more than 4,500 students have a polling location on campus. It would also require public universities to put a link on their websites for voter registration and designate a staff member as a “student voting coordinator.” That person would be tasked with creating a “student vote plan” to help students prepare to cast their ballots. House Majority Leader Eric G. Luedtke, who is also a professor in this university’s public policy school, by
Luciana Perez-Uribe @LucianaPerezUb Staff writer
student government
Grad students underrepresented in USenate Chair says many are discouraged from getting involved on campus Lyna Bentahar By the time run for the 11 seats open to @lynabentahar the period to them. Staff writer a p p ly to r u n Currently, the ratios of for a University Senate seat closed on Friday, a clear divide had chalked up in the candidate pool: Far fewer graduate students had applied to run than undergraduates. Compared to 123 undergraduate students who applied to fill the 30 seats o p e n fo r u n d e rg ra d u a te re p re se n ta t ive s, o n ly 1 8 graduate students applied to
graduate and undergraduate student representation in the senate are largely the same, with about one senator per 1000 students. But Pamela Lanford, the body’s chair, still expressed concern for the relatively lower number of graduate student applicants. S h e t ra c e d t h e l a c k o f engagement back to their overwhelming workloads,
which she said could discourage some from becoming involved in extracurriculars or student life on campus. “It’s natural for grad students to just not want to become absorbed into the broader community,” said Lanford, director of animal research support in the university’s research division. “And it’s not a bad instinct. Because you do have to focus. Or you won’t finish.” Additionally, Lanford said advisers rarely encourage their graduate students to ge t i n vo lve d o n c a m p u s outside of their departments.
See voters, p. 7
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Some advisers even actively discourage their students from doing so, Lanford said, adding that some faculty members don’t prioritize university engagement. H oweve r, t h i s d i d n o t a p p ly to L a n fo rd wh e n she was a doctoral student a t t h i s u n ive rs i ty i n t h e 1990s. She said her former a dv i s o r, A r t h u r Po p p e r, consistently encouraged her to attend conferences and join committees on campus, giving her the opportunity to build relationships. Branching out beyond the classroom or lab is becoming See senate, p. 7
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