FACING OFF OLD SCHOOL
Junior history major has unique comedic writing past
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DIVERSIONS | PAGE 7
SPORTS | PAGE 10
THE DIAMONDBACK WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
99TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 86
Samaritan policy details debated New machines Students propose a range of changes during forum yesterday BY MARISSA LANG Senior staff writer
Students want a Good Samaritan policy, but what the policy should involve is subject to debate. About 25 students, administrators and campus safety officials met in the Stamp Student Union yesterday to discuss a Good Samaritan policy and proposed dozens of modifications, ranging from
eliminating the mandatory phone call home that follows an alcohol violation and opening the amnesty policy to all in attendance at a given party, to increasing the oversight of alcohol policy violators and scrapping the proposal. The event, organized by the Residence Hall Association, was intended to attract students who aren’t typically included in conversations about campus issues and policies.
Strong student support for a Good Samaritan policy is already known — in an Student Government Association referendum last spring, 94 percent of voters supported one — but with the policy still taking shape and student leaders trying to craft a proposal by the end of the school year, more input from students is needed to answer key questions: Should the policy
Please See SAMARITAN, Page 3
cause parking meter fee hike Multi-space meters accept several forms of payment $200,000, said DOTS Director David Allen. The price of parking at meters will increase to The Department of Trans- cover the expense, as well as other financial holes in portation Services the DOTS budget, he will likely raise parkadded. ing meter fees to Meters in open parkcover the cost of teching lots will cost $2 an nologically advanced hour and garages will meters that notify cost $3 an hour, a $1 drivers via text mesincrease from their sage when time is respective amounts. running low and Allen said the meters allow them to add should pay for themmoney over the DAVID ALLEN selves in the first year phone. because of the higher The meters, which DOTS DIRECTOR parking costs and savwill serve multiple parking spaces, will be ings from not needing to installed this summer and cost the department more than Please See FEE, Page 3 BY NELLY DESMARATTES Staff writer
Looks
and lust
Health seminar connects sexual habits to body image BY DANA CETRONE For The Diamondback
Andrew Moore sat fidgeting in his seat before the presentation began. When asked what he hoped to get out of the workshop, the senior environmental science and policy major’s answer was simple: education. At the workshop “Love the Skin You’re In: A Conversation About Sex and Body Image,” Alli Matson, the coordinator of sexual health programs at the University Health Center, and Tracy Zeeger, coordinator of the Center for Health and Wellbeing, presented
Please See IMAGE, Page 2 The Graduate Student Government sharply opposed a proposal for mandatory health insurance Friday. MATTHEW CREGER/THE DIAMONDBACK ABOVE: Students drew pictures of themselves with their negative qualities and then changed themselves to view them in a positive light. LEFT: Alli Matson, coordinator of the sexual health education program and Tracy Zeeger, coordinator of the Center for Health and Wellbeing, talk to students about how to improve their self-body image.
GSG: Forced health insurance too costly
PHOTOS BY VINCE SALAMONE/THE DIAMONDBACK
Greenhouse legislation gains supporters Exemption for manufacturers sways many former opponents since last session BY ALLISON STICE Senior staff writer
Scores of witnesses, including former opponents, spoke out in favor of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act yesterday, leading sponsor Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s) to describe the bill’s first hearing as a “love-in.” The legislation, which failed late in the session last year due in part to opposi-
TOMORROW’S WEATHER:
tion from manufacturing and labor interests, would mandate that by 2020, the state must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from its 2006 levels. Sponsors have since brought many former opponents on board largely through an exemption for manufacturers, although representatives from gas, coal and waste management industries still oppose the measure. The act requires the Maryland
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Department of the Environment to draft a state-wide reduction plan by 2011, then hold workshops and public forums before finalizing the plan by 2012. The first of two reports due to the General Assembly by 2015 is an independent study of the manufacturing industry, which will not be required to reduce emissions and will not be regulated by
Please See ENVIRONMENT, Page 3
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Members say university would need to provide monetary support if adopted BY JULIA RUSSELL Staff writer
A proposal that would require graduate students to purchase health insurance was met with fierce opposition on Friday from GSG members who said the university would need to provide financial support. The plan is modeled after one passed by the University Senate last year that required undergraduates to have health insurance. The policy required students to either prove they have
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health insurance or purchase a university policy. “Mandatory health insurance is a bad idea for graduate students,” said Roberto Munster, the Graduate Student Government’s director of operations. “There is no financial support for us.” Munster, who chaired the committee that approved the plan for mandatory health insurance for undergraduates, said the same plan cannot be
Please See HEALTH, Page 2
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