021609

WINNING THE BATTLE SINKING THE TITANIC No. 11 Terps come out on top in hard-fought game vs. Rutgers

British comedy Trio makes laughter out of tragedy with play

SPORTS | PAGE 10

DIVERSIONS | PAGE 7

THE DIAMONDBACK MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009

99TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 89

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Student sexually assaulted in home Police say incident not connected to ‘Cuddler’

BY NICK RHODES Staff writer

Sophomore philosophy major Alex Brady was ready “to win the trip ... [he had been] practicing a little during the week.”

After being eliminated in the first round, many students sat with their heads in their hands, blaming the loss on their nerves.

“I got nervous,” junior communication and psychology major Alexa Doerr said. As one of three women in the 27-person competition, though, Doerr felt she “held [her] own.”

Police are investigating a sexual assault in which a man went into a female student’s bedroom at her residence on Hopkins Avenue and touched her inappropriately early Friday morning.

The victim, a 19-year-old student, was asleep in her house on the 7500 block of Hopkins Avenue about 5 a.m. when a man got into bed and began touching her. She was not fully awake when the incident occurred but swung her arms defensively, causing the man to leave.

Police said the victim was in a “semi-comatose state” during the attack due to intoxication and probably acted on impulse.

The man then walked into her 21-year-old roommate’s bedroom to find her awake. He then fled the house. Both girls were intoxicated, and the details of the story are still cloudy, Prince George’s County Police Lt. Bernard Snowden said.

Snowden, the head of the District 1 Investigative Division, said police do not believe there is any connection to the infamous “College Park Cuddler” who has been linked to several

Please See COMPETITION, Page 2

Please See CRIME, Page 3

Sophomore business major Ian Haynes faces off against eventual winner sophomore Matt Witt in the finals. VINCE SALAMONE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Rock Paper Scissors Champ Santa Fe plays host to USA Rock Paper Scissors College Championship qualifier

BY ANNA KOWALCZYK Staff writer

R

ock, paper, scissors may only be a schoolyard game, but for one university student, it’s turned into a trip to Panama City, Fla., and a chance at $20,000.

Matt Witt, a sophomore letters and sciences major, emerged victorious in the university’s qualifier for the USA Rock Paper Scissors College Championship, which was

held Saturday afternoon at Santa Fe Cafe.

The simple nature of the game — rock crushes scissors, scissors cuts paper, paper covers rocks, best of three wins — belied the intensity of the suspense and the competition.

Before the event, students nervously recounted their preparations and sipped on AMP energy drinks that the event’s sponsor provided.

“Last night, we played a few games,” junior psychology major Clark Roop said. “I gotta check out my competition.”

Regents approve textbook policy proposal Officials say they hope to head off state legislation also aimed at reducing book costs

BY ALLISON STICE Senior staff writer

TOWSON – The Board of Regents voted Friday to implement a policy aiming to decrease the cost of textbooks, hoping to head off state legislation with similar goals.

The regents touted the policy’s provisions as far more appealing than a similar bill currently in the General Assembly, which they

view as overly regulatory and see little need for. They also said the policy would cut the cost of student education throughout the University System of Maryland by $10 million.

“Hopefully, the legislature will see there is no need for them to act,” said Regent David Nevins.

“We think what they should do is see if our policy works. If it doesn’t, we can make changes.”

Professors laud iTunes’ academic applications

REGENTS COVERAGE Board approves sprinklers in grad housing | SEE PAGE 3 Like the state bill, the regents’ measure promotes faculty awareness of book prices and bundled materials, encourages used textbooks and older editions and requires institutions to post textbook information, such as ISBNs,

HOKIES POKED

by May 1 for fall courses and by Dec. 1 for spring courses.

The state bill mandates more information on textbooks, especially older editions, which must be made available to all booksellers within a shorter timeframe than under the regents’ policy. It also requires faculty to justify why they chose a new edition over an

Please See REGENTS, Page 3

SPORTS | PAGE 10

System kept students engaged, did not compromise attendance

Brayman may run for mayor again, despite past remarks Some council members say Brayman can be difficult to work with, controlling

STEPHEN BRAYMAN COLLEGE PARK MAYOR

BY RICH ABDILL

BY BRADY HOLT

Staff writer

Senior staff writer

iTunes used to be a great way to get away from homework, but now it’s becoming part of the assignment.

The university has started testing the waters with iTunes U, the academic section of Apple’s popular media store that allows educators to upload audio and video of lectures or supplementary materials for students.

At an event discussing the uses of iTunes U on Friday, several professors enthusiastically endorsed the system, saying it helped involve students in the class without decreasing attendance.

Professor Patricia Shields used the site to supplement her fall-semester genetics lectures with 10- to 20-minute movies explaining difficult

College Park Mayor Stephen Brayman may go back on a previous pledge to support another candidate and run for re-election this fall, he said, despite increasing disagreements with some of his council members.

The mayor and College Park City Council members were elected in Nov. 2007 and serve two-year terms. Shortly before the 2007 elections, Brayman publicly said he expected his current term to be his last and he would instead support Andy Fellows, a former District 3 councilman, in this year’s election.

“Mr. Fellows, you’re a good man. I predict I’ll be supporting you in ’09,” Brayman said at a 2007 council meeting.

The Terrapin men’s basketball team held onto an early lead and beat Virginia Tech Saturday, thanks largely to a 17-point performance from guard Greivis Vasquez (above). Forward Landon Milbourne led the Terps with 23 points, helping preserve any hopes for an NCAA Tournament bid, while also bucking previous trends of struggling to hold onto leads. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

Please See iTUNES, Page 2

TOMORROW’S WEATHER:

Please See MAYOR, Page 3

Cloudy/40s

INDEX

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

DIVERSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . .7 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

www.diamondbackonline.com

2

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

TODAY

WE WANT YOU Story ideas? News tips?

E-mail them to The Diamondback at newsdesk.dbk@gmail.com

NEWSMAKERS

BRIEFS Forms blamed for high crab harvest ANNAPOLIS — The head of Maryland’s watermen’s association says the overreporting of the female crab harvest was caused by confusion over how to fill out the forms.

The Department of Natural Resources reported Friday the harvest was down about a third, a drop that followed moves to restrict the catch.

The department used independent surveys for its estimate because of discrepancies in harvest reports from watermen and DNR surveys.

Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, said watermen did not intend to deceive the state, but his group told watermen to record crabs they had thrown back. Simns says the intent was to show the Chesapeake Bay still has many crabs.

- Compiled from wire reports

NEWSMAKERS Burris denies affidavit contradicts testimony CHICAGO—Illinois’ freshman U.S. senator says he never misled anyone when he testified before an impeachment committee last month.

Sen. Roland Burris (D) fielded questions about a major omission from his testimony after releasing an affidavit Saturday that appeared to contradict statements he made to a state House committee investigating former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) impeachment.

The affidavit indicates Blagojevich’s brother asked Burris to host a fundraiser for the governor before Burris was appointed to the Senate seat.

Burris didn’t mentioned that in his January testimony, but he says he never got a chance to answer a direct question about Blagojevich’s brother.

@M

ARYLAND

OVERHEARD

STUDY ABROAD INFO SESSION

“I CHOOSE TO LIVE” SPEAKER

Informational meeting about the new study abroad program in Indonesia offered this summer, 4-5 p.m., 11102 Commons: Building 1

Men’s lacrosse player Patrick Bergstrom talks about his former battle with anorexia, 7-9 p.m., SPH: 1312

Q+A

SCENE + HEARD

BEST of the BLOGS

Faculty say website enhances courses iTUNES, from Page 1

not justify skipping. He said the school conducted a study that concepts with Play-Doh and pipe found no discernible drop in attendance for classes that had leccleaners.

Kristi Hall, a graduate assis- tures posted online.

The only problem tant for Shields’ is the difficulty of BSCI 222: Princiuploading and ples of Genetics downloading large class, said the sysfiles, such as the tem was also useful video of a 50-minute to hit on points that lecture, according to didn’t get particular Deborah Mateik, an emphasis in class. instructional design“We have too er for OIT. Many of much material and the posted videos not enough time to top out at about 20 teach it,” she said. minutes, and even “We wanted to do then, she said, stuthat in a fun, hip KRISTI HALL dents have trouble way.”

GRADUATE ASSISTANT with dropped conHall said students nections. responded positiveThe College of Arts and Huly to the class’s 11 short movies, one of which shows Shields sit- manities already has more than ting by a fire, drinking what ap- 500 videos online, said Heather pears to be brandy, reading terms Rodriguez, the IT coordinator for the school. She said language from an ancient dictionary.

“The students gave enormous- classes have begun to take advanly positive feedback. They were tage of the site, with instructors actually sending us e-mails, ‘We posting pronunciation and vocablove this, we want more of this,’” ulary guides in both video and Hall said, adding that several stu- audio forms — perfect examples dents offered up suggestions for of the short, easily accessible files iTunes U seems to handle well. new videos.

Mateik ran a discussion on FriThere are 575 total tracks, both audio and video, on the universi- day detailing the benefits of the ty’s iTunes U academic site. They program for more than 30 faculty received 1,206 plays during the members. She emphasized the fall semester, according to Phyllis importance of engaging students Johnson, director of communica- and expanding on the materials tion for the Office of Information they take home with them.

“Students live in a YouTube Technology.

Robert Gold dean of the School kind of world. How else can maof Public Health, said that the terial be visualized? That’s where school experimented with post- the real potential of this program ing lectures online and found the is,” she said. majority of students used the files to supplement their class time, abdilldbk@gmail.com

“They were actually sending us e-mails, ‘We love this, we want more of this.’”

- Compiled from wire reports

STUDENT MEMBER WANTED FOR STUDENT PUBLICATIONS' BOARD Maryland Media, Inc., publishing board for the Diamondback, Eclipse, Terrapin, and Mitzpeh, has openings on its board of directors for two full-time students.

The Board of Directors sets general policy, approves budgets and selects the Editors-in-Chief for the student publications. The term of office is one year and begins in May, 2009. The Board meets about once a month during the school year.

For an application, stop by room 3136 South Campus Dining Hall and ask for Maggie Levy.

Applications are due by Friday, February 27th at noon.

The winner of the Rock Paper Scissors Championship, sophomore Matt Witt, celebrates his victory.

VINCE SALAMONE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Easy game belies intense competition COMPETITION. from Page 1 Doerr’s friend, junior early childhood major Julie Capriolo, admitted to leading an unfair match.

“I rigged my own competition,” she said. “I told my competitor every move I was going to make. ... I didn’t care about winning.”

The winners of the first round enjoyed the taste of victory, pumping their fists up and down and screaming with joy. Some students even took off their jackets and rolled up their sleeves to prepare for what lay ahead.

The game was played under the rules of the USA Rock Paper Scissors League, meaning competitors had to say “ro, sham, bo” instead of “rock, paper, scissors,” and use clear hand gestures.

As the competition continued, sophomore government major Andrew Campbell began to develop his winning confidence.

“This is thrilling,” he said.

“They’re going to make a movie from this.”

Campbell even asked for the audience’s advice.

“Time-out,” he called as he motioned to his cheering fans.

“What’s he throwing next?”

Campbell proved cheaters never win, though, and was eliminated in the next round.

The final competition came down to two sophomores: Witt and business major Ian Haynes.

Competition grew fierce as Haynes, with a smug look on his face, sat down across from Witt.

Eliminated competitors cheered loudly for each competitor, but quieted as the final round began.

“It’s a gift. I can’t control it.”

MATT WITT SOPHOMORE LETTERS AND SCIENCES MAJOR

After three intense rounds, Witt emerged as the final winner.

Jumping up ectastically, Witt called out, “Yay! I won!

“It feels glorious,” he added.

Witt claimed his previous practices and ability to understand mental patterns as his winning strategy.

“It’s a gift,” he said. “I can’t control it.”

As for his strategy in Panama City?

“Have fun.” kowalczykdbk@gmail.com

Photo Reprints of any photo or page published in The Diamondback.

Available in full color, any size from 3x5 up to poster size.

Also mugs, t-shirts, many others! diamondbackonline.com click on photo reprints

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

3

Sprinklers, new network approved Regents also consider system-wide renewable energy contract

BY ALLISON STICE Senior staff writer

TOWSON – At a meeting Friday, the Board of Regents quickly approved two requests that affect people at this university and also discussed capital improvement projects and purchasing a system-wide renewable energy contract.

Lease amendment at Graduate Hills and Graduate Gardens The regents granted the university approval to amend the ground lease with Southern Management Corporation so that a fire sprinkler system could be installed at the last two university properties without them, Graduate Hills and Graduate Gardens. The university will cover twothirds of the project, or $4.7 million, out of an expected cost of between $6 and $7 million, while SMC will fund the final third. Southern Manage-

ment will now contract out the work to a fire protection company that has completed similar projects in dorms.

Upgrade of College Park IT network The regents greenlighted a five-year, $62 million plan to bring the campus network up to date. Last February, the board approved the first phase of the upgrade. As university officials found discounts and flexible financing, they developed a more extensive plan for the entire institution, which exceeded original funding and time constraints. The project will overhaul the existing system, including new equipment and enhanced security and speed.

It will also guarantee a perpetual network refresh style, which will continually replace parts of the network before they become obsolete.

Through relationships with network providers, the uni-

versity plans to pilot new technologies as they are created in order to stay modern.

The upgrade will be funded through departmental and student user fees, the student technology fee, equipment loan program funds, vendor financing and existing university funds.

Capital improvement funding The regents discussed the state of system-wide capital projects as of Dec. 21. Seven new construction contracts, valued at $15.6 million in total, were awarded, including more than $10 million for the university’s Oakland Hall dorm; all but one were given to state firms. Five projects had been completed, costing a total of $49.2 million, including golf course renovations and piping projects on this campus. There are 41 ongoing projects around the system.

Renewable energy contract The system, along with this

university, will solicit and review bids from clean energy providers for a longterm renewable energy purchase. The goal of buying 20 percent of each institution’s electricity from renewable sources is outlined in the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which was signed by all university presidents in the university system and represents a significant increase from the 5 percent of the system’s energy that is currently renewable. The regents hope for an aggregated contract, which is one of the cost-saving initiatives identified by the regents’ Effectiveness and Efficiency plan. Aggregated contracts for natural gas and electricity saved the system about 10 percent in energy costs during the past few years. sticedbk@gmail.com

SGA will still push for legislation REGENTS, from Page 1 older one.

The regents, a group of gubernatorial appointees who oversee the university system, view the bill as an infringment on faculty freedom and bemoan the unfunded administrative burdens of researching textbook information back several editions and notifying stakeholders sooner.

System lobbyist P.J. Hogan, who also serves as a policy advisor to the regents, said the state bill would have a fiscal impact in terms of bookstore revenue losses.

“If the state really wanted to do something, they should exempt textbooks from the sales tax,” he said at the board’s meeting.

The regents will lobby against the bill during the legislative session, although administrators say they would support the measure if an amendment were added to extend the timeframe for researching and posting the information. Ideally, institutions would have the same amount of time as in the regents’ policy.

The Student Government Association is in favor of the state bill, which university

President Dan Mote said certainly doesn’t help lobbying efforts. Mote, along with the regents, said he believes the system is moving in the right direction. He said students are benefiting already from the university’s efforts to post ISBNs, helping students purchase books online or elsewhere. Students don’t understand the minute details of what the law would require of the institution, he said.

“You’re only aware of [the rules] if you have to do them,” he said. “I think it’s going to be very difficult to execute.”

Critics of the state bill have also raised concerns that its implementation would result in higher student fees to cover the cost of complying with the law.

SGA President Jonathan Sachs said the policy was a good step but made the argument that legislation would create a more robust usedbook market, even in state schools outside of the system.

“We’re still going full force on the textbook legislation,” Sachs said. “It’s got more to it to ensure that costs actually go down for students.” sticedbk@gmail.com

The sexual assault occurred on the 7500 block of Hopkins Avenue .

SAM STONE/THE DIAMONDBACK

Assault leaves students uneasy CRIME, from Page 1 similar sex offenses in the past few years because of the lengthy amount of time between the attacks. He also said police believe the Cuddler is more than one person, not a serial offender.

Snowden added the profile didn’t match the Cuddler’s because there was no suspicious activity or evidence of forced entry.

It is unclear how the assailant entered the residence on Friday, but Snowden said in cases like this, criminals usually enter through an unlocked window or door.

Snowden said police were not informed of the incident until about 10 a.m., causing a delay in sending out the crime alert.

Police will reinterview the victim and her roommate to obtain more details, but said they don’t have a lot of information to go on.

While police maintain they are doing everything they can to prevent and solve crimes similar to this one, they said cooperation from residents is the best way to avert sexual offenses. Snowden said to prevent sexual assaults, students should walk in groups, not invite strangers back to their houses and lock their doors and windows.

County police also offer free security checks where an officer will inspect all windows and doors to make sure there are no points of vulnerability and locks are work-

ing. They also walk around neighborhoods, distributing safety information and tips. Snowden also said they consistently have plainclothes officers looking for suspicious activity in the area.

University Police spokesman Paul Dillon reinforced that students need to take advantage of the free services the police offer, saying it’s not utilized enough by students in the area. He also said alcohol is also a major factor in crime in College Park.

“It can impair people’s judgment,” he said. “To ignore the fact that alcohol could play a role [in allowing crime to occur] is naïve.”

Students who live near the crime scene have mixed feelings about the area’s safety.

Senior finance major Dave Berman, who lives a block away from the scene of the crime, said he doesn’t really see much police presence and thinks more is necessary to prevent crime in the area.

Junior sociology major Lauren Tubbs said the crime alerts sent out to students were a good way to increase safety awareness. She also said she would have the police make a security check, but had not heard much about them.

“I do feel a bit uneasy,” Tubbs said. “I would like to feel more safe. All the crime alerts are nerve-wracking.” rhodesdbk@gmail.com

No crying over Course evaluation numbers disappoint provost Constant e-mails, incentives do not get participation to 70 percent goal spilt prices

BY TIRZA AUSTIN Staff writer

Price of milk falls 70 cents on the campus, following national trend

BY MICHELLE CLEVELAND Staff writer

Got milk?

If you do, you probably paid less for it than you would have a few months ago. A national trend of falling milk prices over the past several months has been echoed on the campus, officials said, helping to put a few extra dollars back in students’ pockets as their purchasing habits remain constant despite the struggling economy.

The price for a gallon of one or two percent milk has dropped from about $4.19 last month to $3.49 today, said Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple.

The reason for the drop is basic economics: Supply is greater than demand.

“Milk prices are falling, in part, because farmers are producing more milk this year,” said Barrett Kirwan, assistant professor of agriculture and resource economics. “Since milk prices were so high last year, many farmers responded by increasing the number of cows in their dairy. Unfortunately for them, demand has fallen because of the recession. The combination of more milk and less demand has resulted in falling milk prices.”

Kirwan added last year’s record-high milk prices impacted the milk supply, so that’s why there has been a larger decline in the price of milk than for other goods.

“Milk is pretty much a market monthly adjustment kind of pricing structure,” Hipple said, adding most other items in the on-campus shops, such as ice cream, bread and deli meats, haven’t become cheaper because their prices are based on long-term contracts of one or two years.

Natan Simhai, a sophomore bioengineering major, said he

lives in an apartment on the campus with other roommates.

Though he personally doesn’t buy milk since he has a meal plan, his roommates buy a gallon from the Commons Shop about once a week.

Despite the price drop, Simhai said buying milk remains an expensive purchase because they pay cash for it and don’t have Terp Bucks. That doesn’t stop him from drinking their milk, though.

“I drink it when they’re not looking,” Simhai confessed.

Milk is ordered three times each week, and because of this product’s rather fixed demand, Clarence Patterson, administrator for campus convenience stores, said he doesn’t think price changes will affect whether students buy milk.

“If they need a gallon of milk, they’re going to get a gallon of milk,” Patterson said, comparing it as a necessity to gasoline.

“In general, people’s demand for food doesn’t change too much when their income changes,” Kirwan said. “How we get our food might change. We might spend more time cooking our own burgers instead of going to Five Guys.”

Once a month, Dining Services administrators evaluate prices in campus convenience shops and adjust prices. Because the Baltimore-based dairy company, Cloverland Green Spring, was providing the milk to the university at a cheaper price, Hipple said, the shops were able to lower the price to reflect that.

Patterson said despite a struggling economy, sales in the shops on the campus have remained stable. If anything, he said, sales may have increased slightly. He added there have been more sales of fountain sodas compared to bottled sodas, which makes sense because it’s a better deal for students. clevelanddbk@gmail.com

Student participation in course evaluations is still disappointing administrators after three semesters of online surveys, they said.

Only 61 percent of students filled out online course evaluations at the end of last semester, Provost Nariman Farvardin said. Since the beginning of online evaluations, no more than 63 percent of students have filled out the form, despite administrators bombarding students’ e-mail inboxes with reminders and offering incentives to do so.

“The system is primarily designed to benefit the students,” Farvardin said. “If the students don’t tell me where the problem is, we won’t be able to make adjustments.”

The administration has said

if more than 70 percent of a class fills out the evaluation, the results of the evaluation will be posted online, an incentive designed to convince students to spend time filling out the evaluations.

And during last semester’s evaluation period, the provost’s office was sending out daily reminders to students who hadn’t filled out the evaluations. But the e-mails apparently had little impact on students’ habits.

Students offered a variety of reasons for not completing the evaluations, from lack of time to lack of interest to confusion about the process.

“You have to go onto the website,” said senior biological engineering major Harding Hall.

“It’s not a lot of extra time, but when you’re busy, it is.

“I only fill them out if I have strong feelings — if I really

like the class or I don’t,” he added.

Farvardin said while students fill out paper evaluations in class, the online evaluations include questions related to the college and university, while paper evaluations are distributed throughout the department. He said he would like to eventually shift the department questionnaire online, as well.

Despite the lower-thanhoped turnout, Farvardin said the university is still trying to improve the program, through talking to deans and professors about encouraging students to fill out the online forms. The goal, he said, is for 70 percent of students to fill out evaluations.

“Every semester, we have improved the system,” Farvardin said. “We will continue to do that until the system is

satisfied.

“Professors have a special influence on the students,” he added. “We want to make sure [course evaluations] become a culture of our institution.”

While Farvardin emphasized how the evaluations help students, university President Dan Mote said evaluations were even more helpful for administrators.

“Generally, students think about them in terms of helping other students,” Mote said.

“But actually, it’s most helpful for the department and the instructor. They improve our courses without a doubt. I would encourage the students to do them — now that it’s on the Internet, it seems like it would be easier, I would think.

Students could help us understand why they don’t do it.” taustindbk@gmail.com

Fellows not surprised Brayman may run for re-election MAYOR, from Page 1 Fellows had previously said he was considering challenging Brayman in the 2007 election, but announced at the same council meeting he would run in 2009. Fellows said he wouldn’t be surprised if Brayman — who has never faced a contested mayoral election — ran again, despite his pledge to support Fellows.

“Well, I think that given the mayor’s commitment to College Park and his engagement, it was always on my mind that he might run again for re-election,” Fellows said. Nonetheless, “I’m hoping that he’ll also want to change.”

Fellows had no harsh words for Brayman, but said that after eight years with the same mayor it was time for a change.

“I’m not going to be running against Steve Brayman.

That’s not the idea of my campaign,” Fellows said.

“The point is offering a choice for voters.”

But some council members were less than pleased when Brayman said more recently he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for a fifth term.

District 4 Councilwoman Mary Cook has called Brayman a “bully” and clashed with him at a recent council meeting over her ideas for a city master plan, suggesting he has dominated some of her colleagues into serving as his “puppets.”

Longtime District 2 Councilman Jack Perry, who tangles frequently with Brayman at council meetings, also likened the city council to “that thing with the puppets” in The Sound of Music in an interview last year and said the mayor often harbors a personal vendetta against him.

Brayman “came in with his mind made up and everything he was going to do was going to screw me around every time he got a chance,” Perry said last year after the mayor did not support the idea of making English the city’s official language. “I think it’s a personal thing with Steve.”

Cook added she was concerned personal disputes with the mayor could harm the city after he ignored her nomination of a city resident to serve on the city’s understaffed cable commission, a group that investigates customer service complaints

with Comcast.

In a brief interview this week, Brayman said he “received some input” from Cook but would not comment further, saying “she should come to me and talk about that.”

Cook said she would not do so because Brayman was “not reasonable” with her in the past.

“I don’t see any explanation for keeping a little old lady off the cable commission,” she said.

Cook said Brayman turned down some other prospective members of city boards and committees when they wouldn’t promise not to run for city council, including Linda Lynch who offered to become more involved after losing a race for a council spot.

Longtime District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin noted some cable commission members should have technical experience, although it is not required, and he could understand a reluctance to seat someone who might join the council and leave his committee post.

Nonetheless, Catlin suggested Cook learn to work more with Brayman to get what she wants.

“You sort of have to be able

to convince him of things.

You can’t just say this is what you want,” Catlin said. “In my [council] career, it’s taken huge amounts of effort to get done what I want done.”

It does take extra effort to deal with Brayman, Catlin added, because “he can be a very difficult person.”

“The mayor has strong opinions and he’s aggressive and he likes to win,” Catlin said. “He has power, and he likes to use it.”

Brayman has also rankled the more talkative council members — particularly Perry — when he tries to keep the council meetings running efficiently, Catlin said.

“There’s been attempts made to curtail people from talking too long, and the mayor’s sort of stuck enforcing those things,” Catlin said in an interview last year.

“Perry has been on the council when people could just talk for hours. So the mayor’s got to be the bad guy and rein him in.”

Cook would not say whether she intends to challenge Brayman if he runs for re-election in the fall. holtdbk@gmail.com

4

THE DIAMONDBACK | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009

THE DIAMONDBACK

Opinion

STEVEN OVERLY

YOUR INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK PHONE: (301) 314-8200 | FAX: (301) 314-8358 3150 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL | COLLEGE PARK, MD., 20742 NEWSDESK .DBK@GMAIL.COM

EDITOR IN CHIEF

ROXANA HADADI MANAGING EDITOR

BEN SLIVNICK

MARDY SHUALY

OPINION EDITOR

OPINION EDITOR

Staff Editorial

Guest Column

A not-so-textbook solution A

fter a decade with Barnes & Noble, the university is signing a either — the university’s own masters of business administration admisnew contract to run the University Book Center. Students are sions website places professional work experience first in the list of crieyeing a “student-run co-op” model, which they hope will pro- teria for admission.

More importantly, having a university-run bookstore provides the flexivide more affordable textbooks. Administrators are concerned primarily with the stability of UBC, and so they are naturally looking bility to enact creative cost-saving measures. In 2003, The New York Times reported the owner of the University Bookstore at Purdue was ordering toward a corporate-run model. But we think there’s a third way.

Why not play to our strengths creatively and turn the bookstore into a textbooks from abroad to take advantage of international discounts and pass the savings along to students. The University of business management opportunity for our students? We Texas’ cooperative bookstore (run by George Mitchell, have an internationally esteemed business school, which who operated UBC 25 years ago) features a wide range of should provide the stability and profitability administrators are looking for, while also allowing for student The business school should attractive features, from student discounts to 100 percent investment of bookstore profits back into the university. involvement and flexibility. Running a bookstore is a comoversee a student-run Administrators are worried about taking on the plicated and difficult proposition, and the university can’t co-op for the UBC. responsibility for running a bookstore. But if the univerrisk having a student co-op fail the day before classes sity wants to compete with the better bankrolled, we’re start. At the same time, we shouldn’t have anyone running going to have to take some risks. This proposal is about more than bookthe bookstore who doesn’t have students’ interests as their No. 1 priority.

The project could be managed by a mix of professionals and faculty stores. This represents an opportunity for the university to creatively members, and staffed by students in a series of academic course/intern- leverage its strengths to achieve its goals. We don’t have the endowments ship combinations. It would be an opportunity for students to acquire of Harvard or Yale. We’re never going to achieve excellence through some real-world experience on the campus, from marketing to supply- sheer wealth. And as a public institution built to open the promises of chain management. It’s not a way of tricking students into unpaid labor, education beyond the elites and the Ivy League, that’s fitting.

Our View

Editorial Cartoon: Shai Goller

President Obama: Hail to the teach

I

f you could choose a president who was, by temperament and training, not a politician but a member of some other profession, what discipline would you look to?

Certainly, all presidents are politicians, but it seems to me that with the exception of former President Bill Clinton, none of our recent presidents were solely politicians. In recent years, we have had an actor (Ronald Reagan), a bureaucrat (George H.W. Bush) and a corporate CEO (George W. Bush).

These men all brought their other professional skills to the presidency. Reagan excelled at performing on television. Bush 43 ran the country like a business — which, not incidentally, may be why our nation today finds itself in a perilous financial situation alongside so many businesses.

I bring this up because before he

JEREMY

SULLIVAN entered politics, in addition to dabbling in community organizing, President Barack Obama was a professor. It surprises me how often this is presumed by critics to be a negative thing.

The term “professorial” was applied to Obama during the presidential election in a pejorative way.

Conservative commentators argued that the professorial Obama didn’t “feel the pain” of average Americans, instead favoring cold and dispassionate rational analysis.

His ability to complete long and complicated sentences proved that he had a lot of book learnin’ but not

enough common sense.

On the one hand, there are some negatives. Professors can be boring. For all of Obama’s rhetorical eloquence at times, there are other times, such as at last week’s press conference, when Obama’s see-allsides-of-the-issue oratory can lull audiences to sleep. Professors can also be arrogant. Obama’s professorial articulateness occasionally verges on the condescending, and nobody likes being made to feel stupid.

But we have to remember that teaching classes, or giving speeches, is only one part of what a professor does. They also spend countless hours doing research.

They consider as much of the available data and information as they can and then write articles and books that are grounded in that body of evidence.

In contrast to our last president, it is hard to picture Obama sauntering

up to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and “looking into his soul” as a way of fashioning a foreign policy. Rather, one imagines Obama considering Russia’s recent history, the present state of its culture, society and economy and its place in an interconnected world.

Professors do not take action based on their gut; they act carefully, based on a thorough consideration of the available evidence.

In the past, we have elected generals and lawyers to the presidency; perhaps in the future we will elect an athlete or a plumber.

But at a moment in American history when the stakes seem extremely high, I can think of worse things than having a professor in chief.

Jeremy Sullivan is a doctoral candidate studying American history.

He can be reached at sullivandbk@gmail.com.

Presidency: When will we break the God barrier?

I

t seems I have no hope of being elected to high office in this country. It took me a while to accept the truth, but I guess I was so hyped about the “power of change” message of this last election that my judgment was clouded. What makes me different from most of the governors and senators and president of these United States is that I don’t believe in a higher being.

Because of this, I have committed political suicide.

There seems to be an overriding belief that if you don’t believe in God, you lack a sense of morality.

And this belief persists despite the many atrocities that have been committed in God’s name.

Religious beliefs should hold no place in politics. In the election of 1960, there were strong objections toward then-Sen. John F. Kennedy’s religious beliefs. As a Catholic, some thought he’d value the Pope more than the American people. In the

election of 2008, President Barack Obama’s religious beliefs came under scrutiny as some Republicans lambasted him as a Muslim. At one town hall event for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a woman described Obama as an “Arab.”

McCain cut her off, calling Obama as a “decent family man,” as if he couldn’t be both.

Every president except Kennedy has been Protestant, or so the story goes. But a conveniently and commonly ignored fact of American history is the debate over the religious beliefs of our founding fathers. It is commonly said we were founded a Christian nation, but Thomas Jefferson, the primary pen of the Declaration of Independence, was one of organized religion’s harshest critics.

“Priests…dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight,” he wrote. Even Abraham Lincoln never formally joined any church. Yet if these beliefs were

JUSTIN

SNOW more publicized, these men we hold in such high esteem could have never been elected in our America.

Change may have come to Washington in the form of a new president in January, but not so much in the Capitol’s religious makeup. Congress continues to be dominated by Protestants who make up 54.7 percent.

Catholics account for 30.1 percent, and Jews for 8.4 percent of the current Congress. There are few Muslims and only one publicly confirmed nonbeliever, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.).

But is it any surprise that so many Americans would be hostile toward

those with differing beliefs? A report last year found only 45 percent of the country would vote for a nonbeliever.

There should not be this open animosity toward those who hold beliefs that differ from the majority. Belief in God does not make you a better person, nor does it guarantee happiness. If anything, religious beliefs cloud judgment and hinder progress.

These issues shouldn’t be left off the table either. All too often we are willing to debate political philosophies, but not religious philosophies. The values that guide our officials’ way of life should be argued.

However, there is some hope for the future. Despite the fact that Stark has openly admitted his lack of belief, he was elected to his 19th term this past November.

Justin Snow is a sophomore history major. He can be reached at snowdbk@gmail.com.

POLICY: The signed letters, columns and cartoon represent only the opinions of the authors. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback’s editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.

Race for what’s right MARCIO VON MUHLEN Only 12 months ago, oil was racing past $100 a barrel and it seemed like the nation’s ability to address our energy future would become the defining issue of our times. It might be tempting to dismiss talk of our energy challenge as just another fad born out of those crazy subprime mortgage days. After all, gasoline prices have come down, and how can we worry too much about the environment when millions of Americans are losing their jobs?

Nonetheless, there are three key reasons why energy remains an urgent issue critical to our future.

First, the conditions that drove the price of oil and gas to stratospheric highs are not going away. These fossil fuels are finite resources, our ability to extract them cheaply is diminishing and their costs will again increase as global markets recover and the developing world surges ahead in population and economic growth. The cost of a barrel of oil is already up 20 percent from its Dec. 2008 low.

Second, our demand for foreign oil and the related foreign policy decisions we make to ensure supply from abroad has greatly diminished our leadership position in the global political economy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. imports 57 percent of its petroleum needs. The top three global oil exporters are Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran, and 56 percent of global oil reserves are in the Middle East. If we want to restore both the economic and geopolitical strength of the United States, we need to increase our self-reliance. Our greatest obstacle to doing so is our dependence on foreign oil.

Third, the environmental cost of burning fossil fuels is increasingly hard to ignore, and policy changes acknowledging this are gaining momentum. Evidence for climate change is so compelling that even oil company executives have recognized it as a critical problem. Consider the words of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a group that includes the petroleum giants ConocoPhillips and Shell. In their 2008 Call For Action they announced, “The most efficient and powerful way to stimulate private investment in research, development, and deployment is to adopt policies establishing a market value for GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions over the long-term.”

President Barack Obama has promised legislation to reflect the greenhouse gas cost of fossil fuels and $150 billion to speed development of alternatives. It is reasonable to expect that our energy policies will be changing quite soon, bringing an entirely new set of incentives to the energy marketplace. These realities represent a huge opportunity to begin reshaping the world’s $6 trillion-a-year energy industry utilizing technology and innovation.

These opportunities are evident in companies like EnerNOC, which has grown from a student business plan competition winner to a $250 million business in just eight years, and Co2Stats.com, a service that two students started through a program designed for first-time entrepreneurs. EnerNOC enables utilities to avoid building excess power plants by coordinating decreased electricity demand by large users during peak hours. Co2Stats has registered more than 5,000 sites in the last 16 months to track the carbon footprint of their Web presence. Could the next clean energy success story be yours?

You too can contribute to the clean energy movement by getting involved in your university’s energy community. You can also seize the opportunity to build a team and compete for the MIT Clean Energy Prize, sponsored by NSTAR and the Department of Energy. This prestigious business plan competition, open to student teams from all U.S. universities, is designed to develop a new generation of energy entrepreneurs. Enter by Feb. 26 to compete for more than $500,000 in prizes (more details at www.mitcep.com).

Marcio von Muhlen is a graduate student in the Biological Engineering Department at MIT and co-director of the MIT Clean Energy Prize. He can be reached at marciovm@mit.edu.

AIR YOUR VIEWS Address your letters or guest columns to the Opinion Desk at opinion.dbk@gmail.com. All letters and guest columns must be signed. Include your full name, year, major and day- and nighttime phone numbers. Please limit letters to 300 words. Please limit guest columns to 600 words.

Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright in the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009 | THE DIAMONDBACK

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Features HOROSCOPESTELLA WILDER

CROSSWORD 29 31 34 36

Poor grades Slippery — — eel He loved Lucy He played Obi-Wan 37 Succotash bean 38 Oklahoma town

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Inoculants Blues street Coffee option Out of stock (2 wds.)

49 Chewy candy 51 Undamaged

59 Souvenir place ACROSS (2 wds.)

1 Run off secretly 64 Hair style 6 Sealed a deal 65 Liverpool poky 10 Math course 14 Expensive watch 67 Historic shrine 68 Spotted 15 Microwave 69 “Rosamond” 16 Prefix for composer dynamic 70 Burger go-withs 17 Wouldn’t 71 Miscalculates hurt — — 72 Even 18 Lose some 73 Ant-sized 19 Warm-water shark 20 Rice and potatoes DOWN 22 Caught a glimpse 1 Bullpen stats 2 Room under 24 Urban cruiser a roof 25 Pottery 3 Earthen jar fragments 4 Fellow citizen 26 Muscle holder 5 — knife 30 Defense gp.

6 Almanac 32 Fits to — — section 33 Byron’s works 7 Style of cooking 35 Dells 8 Just scrape by 40 Giveaway 9 Abhor 42 “Sweet” girl of 10 Florida bay song 11 Broadcast again 44 Concise 12 Ticked off 45 Feasible 13 Wares 47 Mideast title 21 Vietnam capital 48 Dye-yielding 23 Push plant 26 Wilson’s 50 Noisy insect predecessor 52 Delphi’s god 27 French I verb 56 Bank offering 28 Not e’en once 58 Setting

© 2009 UNITED FEATURES SYNDICATE

Previous Day’s Puzzle Solved:

TODAY’S CROSSWORD SPONSORED BY:

T HUDS N I MOY T E AMS T RA P P E I D I OM T H AWS EON CO L L YO CARRO AR I E S CDS E HOE N ERN S

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B F L A T

E R E C T

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63 Nosegay 66 Jackie’s tycoon

Divert Kilted musician Less modern Mane possessors Helped the Tin Man

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You can be quite competitive, and yet you are certainly not cutthroat in your approach to contests. Indeed, you insist on following the rules of any game to the letter — at work, at home or at play — and you insist that others do the same. Nothing can ruin an endeavor for you so much as someone who doesn’t follow the rules.

Also born on this date are: Katharine Cornell, actress; John McEnroe, tennis player; Ice-T, rapper; Sonny Bono, singer and politician; Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist; LeVar Burton, actor.

To see what is in store for you tomorrow, find your birthday and read the corresponding paragraph. Let your birthday star be your daily guide.

T I T H E P O S E

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al freedom and control over your affairs.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — Once again, you are likely to find yourself a little bit behind — but you can work swiftly to catch up, provided you know what is left undone.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — A promise comes your way from someone who has broken a few promises to you in the past.

Don’t let that taint your feelings now.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — You may be overheard saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, so there’s no going back.

Instead, avoid saying it in the first place.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — You don’t want someone in authority to think that you haven’t grown over the past several weeks or months. Demonstrate what you’ve learned.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — You may have trouble fitting a big idea into the usual small amount of time. You’ll require some breathing room this time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — It’s quality that matters, not quantity — and yet you don’t want to come up lacking when all is said and done. Balance is the key.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — You’re going to have to follow the rules, or you’re going to be penalized. You know what it means to play fair; do so.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — You’ll get a clearer glimpse into the workings of your own heart and mind, and as a result you can make a few key personal changes.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Be sure to give yourself time to reflect. Don’t make the mistake of working nonstop; breaks are necessary.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Even the most mundane of routines can provide you with a good deal of satisfaction.

What’s important is that you are thorough.

Copyright, 2009 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

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E T H E R

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orn today, you tend toward the emotional side of things, and when you lean over too far in that direction, you are sure to topple into a pool of misdirected feeling that does nothing positive for you or for anyone else. This isn’t to say that feelings themselves are not good things; indeed they are, but you are the type to be their slave if you give them free rein, so a little discipline and self-control will always be necessary if you are to move through life in a balanced manner, courting progress and happiness.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009 | THE DIAMONDBACK

7

Diversions

ARTS IN THE AREA:

arts. music. living. movies. weekend.

Rob Riggle of The Daily Show.

Comedian Rob Riggle may be most famous for his stint on The Daily Show. Often serving as the show’s military analyst, Riggle may be the only correspondent appropriate for the job, considering his time spent in the U.S. Marines. But Riggle takes a different route with his stand-up, opting for a more conversational, less political, humor. Thursday, Riggle performs at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington. Tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 on the day of show. Doors open at 7 p.m.

REVIEW | THE TITANIC SHOW

all the crap you care about M.I.A.’S BABY ALREADY PLANNING TOUR At last Sunday’s Grammy Awards, M.I.A. was nine months pregnant and looked it. On Wednesday, Maya and fiancé Ben Brewer gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She broke the news with an all-caps post to her MySpace blog, announcing the early stages of labor kicked in late Sunday night.

M.I.A. hasn’t released the baby’s name yet, but expect something, ahem, unusual. Now the question is: Will M.I.A. perform at Sunday’s Academy Awards, as planned? She hasn’t said yes or no, but she did write this in her post: “ME AND BABY ARE PUTTING OUR TOUR DATES FOR 2010 TOGETHER.” Be ready for anything.

ONLY ON VH1 It appears Ray J — Brandy’s brother, Kim Kardashian’s ex and the star of For The Love of Ray J — went and knocked up one of his show’s contestants.

Monica Leon, 22, told the National Enquirer she’s three months pregnant with Ray J’s baby.

Leon, who goes

by Danger on the show, due in part to the tiger tattooed on her face, said she and Ray J — SPOILER ALERT — started sleeping together during the first week of taping the dating show and every night after. Oh, and there’s more.

Leon is now engaged to Nick Cannon’s brother Gabriel. We smell a spin-off.

The British are coming!

Snarky musical trio Pluck sends up the Titanic with new show

BY VAMAN MUPPALA Staff writer

Ever since the scattershot comedy of Family Guy splattered across the small screen, gleefully silly, absurdist, self-referential humor has fallen considerably in comedic standing. Of course, sometimes three Brits — one of them in drag — are all one needs to adroitly resurrect the spirits of Monty Python and the Marx Brothers.

With its third production, The Titanic Show, British musical comedy troupe Pluck sets out to do precisely that, while enlightening American audiences about the importance of a properly executed testicle-crushing gag, as well as strategically placed photos of President Barack Obama.

The show begins with introductions of its three protagonists, and classic comedic archetypes are rapidly established. Stuffy, regal violinist Mr. Hartley (Adrian Garratt) and his partner, the far more pompously august viola player Mr. Brailey (Jon Regan) prepare to board the RMS Titanic to serve as onboard musicians.

Complicating their plans is spirited cellist Roger Bricoux (Sian Kadifachi), who insists on accompanying the duo onboard the Titanic. It is readily apparent Bricoux is actually a woman, but the supremely conceited Hartley and Brailey simply assume Bricoux is a midget and serve up a healthy dose of centuries-old British snark, replying “because you’re a midget” to each of Bricoux’s questions and entreaties.

Naturally, the narrative — ostensibly about the musicians who kept playing as the Titanic sank — is flimsy and wafer-thin. Serving merely as an excuse to showcase the trio’s flawless chemistry, gift for slapstick and jokes so shamelessly whimsical one has to laugh.

Case in point is an early bit in which the musicians are solemnly plucking and bowing their way through another classical masterpiece, utterly incognizant of a miniature, remote-controlled Titanic heading for a papier-mâché iceberg at the front of the stage.

Writer/director Cal McCrystal’s staging truly shines as the ship billows steam and Bricoux forcefully kicks the iceberg off the stage, mock-castigating an expectant audience, “Not yet.”

Quirky and knowing, the moment adds a dash of

PLAY: The Titanic Show | VERDICT:

SENIOR GRADUATION PORTRAITS

T

he 2009 TERRAPIN YEARBOOK, in association with Carl Wolf Studios, will be taking graduation portraits the week of February 23-27, 2009. Although it is TOO LATE for these pictures to be included in the 2009 TERRAPIN, many of you called to request this portrait session.

There is absolutely NO cost or obligation on your part. Several poses will be taken, both with and without cap and gown, if you prefer. You will then have an opportunity to purchase portraits at a reasonable charge.

You may make an appointment by calling 1-800-687-9327, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. until Friday, February 20th, or schedule your appointment on the net! Visit our site at www.ouryear.com using Maryland’s school code: 87101.

Beginning Monday, Feb. 23rd, appointments can be made by calling the Terrapin office at (301) 314-8349 between 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

DATES: February 23-27, 2009 • One Week Only!!

TIME: 11am-7pm PLACE: 3101 South Campus Dining Hall (TERRAPIN YEARBOOK Office) PHONE: 1-800-687-9327 or www.ouryear.com School code: 87101

postmodern wit to the proceedings. The fourth wall — the invisible barrier between audience and cast — is similarly shattered Tom Stoppard-style many times throughout the play.

One sequence even involved Bricoux handing out cymbals and confetti to the first and second rows, only to be chastised by Hartley, who found the gesture coarse and unbecoming.

What restrains the absurdity from running away with the play are the adept renderings of classical giants such as Schubert and Rossellini along with the naturally authoritarian British personas the players effortlessly portray.

As if the movements of venerable compositions such as “Ave Maria” were insufficiently challenging, McCrystal has the performers aim for physical comedy as they play. Rising to the challenge, Garratt, Regan and Kadifachi roll on stretchers, flip open beach chairs with only their legs and prance around the stage without missing a note.

Garratt channels the acerbic pettiness of Basil Fawlty (Monty Python’s John Cleese) while Regan plays off him with a mixture of bumbling charm and hotheaded idiocy. The script is littered with winking British clichés, and Rogan delivers lines such as “Ah, I do love tea” and “put up your dooks” with complete gusto.

Fortunately, McCrystal and co. realize that carrying the mantle of British comedy requires more than gentle jokes about tea and odd English mannerisms. It demands a certain modicum of morbid wit and dark humor, without which the show would be stolidly mediocre.

Notable bits of cheeky darkness include a silent film in which a baby is chucked out of a window, a rather perverted Mr. Peanut and, best of all, the line “Ah, deck chairs on the Titanic, it

doesn’t get much better than this.”

When the production winds down and the characters play on, accompanied by a screen displaying a comic silhouette of a miniature Titanic breaking, Pluck hits certain unexpected notes of elegy. The maudlin weeping of James Cameron’s mammoth motion picture Titanicappears strangely lacking in comparison to the sight of three caricatures sadly playing their music as the unsinkable ship settles into the depths.

Pluck’s The Titanic Show is running now through March 1 at the Bethesda Theatre. Tickets cost $25 to $45. vmain13@umd.edu

8

THE DIAMONDBACK | SPORTS | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009

Free throws crucial without fast breaks

Yeatman had big weekend in first action with the Terps

RUTGERS, from Page 10 season.

“They’re an aggressive team,” Coleman said. “They really pride themselves on the defensive end, so coming into this game, the coaching staff said whenever we drive into the lane, just expect the contact.”

There was plenty of contact down low, and the Scarlet Knights (14-10, 5-6 Big East) picked up 23 offensive rebounds while stopping the Terps’ potent fast-break game until the closing minutes of the second half.

“That was smart on their behalf,” said Terp guard Kristi Toliver, who finished with 18 points. “We’re definitely a team that likes to get up and down, and they need to play slow in order to win games. ... They were being physical, so we just went to the free-throw line.”

After scoring on their first five possessions of the second half to take a commanding 41-25 lead, the Terps only scored two points over the next six minutes.

But Rutgers struggled offensively throughout the game, shooting their worst field goal percentage of the season. The Terps held the Scarlet Knights to just one more point than Delaware State scored at Comcast Center in November, the fewest points the Terps have allowed this season.

“We just did a tremendous job, just understanding that this was gonna be a different game — more slowpaced,” coach Brenda Frese said.

“Just understanding it was gonna come down to getting stops on the defensive end and executing on the offensive end.”

Rutgers’ guard Epiphanny Prince scored 19 points on just 7-of-29 shooting. The only other Scarlet Knight to score in double figures was forward Heather Zurich, and coach C. Vivian Stringer’s team missed a handful of easy shots inside.

“We had opportunities,” Stringer said. “But we stood around a little bit too much and that put pressure on us as a group. This is the worst I’ve seen us shoot in over seven years.”

The Terps stifled Rutgers in the first half, allowing just 19 points, the fewest Frese’s team has given up in a half since their win against Loyola (Md.) in December.

LACROSSE, from Page 10 the weekend. “It was nice to get out there and not have to practice where you stop every two seconds.”

Seemingly, the only time the Terps stopped was to wait for their opponent to pull the ball out of the net.

Groot, Grant Catalino and Travis Reed each had two goals and two assists against Presbyterian. Attackman Will Yeatman led the Terps with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in two games.

Still, Cottle said he wanted to see better spacing and movement within the offense. Yeatman noted there is room for improvement.

“We still have a ways to go in terms of our offense, the unity and the cohesiveness we have as a whole,” Yeatman said. “Early on in the season, a lot of guys play well individually. But there’s a ton of talent and a ton of good guys, and we’re gonna continue to get better. These were two steps, certainly.”

But regardless of whatever kinks are left to be worked out, the Terps were pleased as they returned to College Park. The first weekend went off without a hitch, giving the Terps some early confidence heading into next weekend’s game against No. 8 Georgetown.

“Going forward, we’re 2-0, we haven’t lost yet, so that’s a good thing,” Groot said. “We got a lot of work to do this week.”

TERP NOTE: Attackman Ryan Young scored three goals against Air Force. Young, originally suspended for two games after being charged with driving while intoxicated on Aug. 2, was ruled eligible before the game.

The violation requires a student athlete to miss 10 percent of the schedule, according to the Student-Athlete Code of Conduct.

The Terps play 14 regular season games this season.

Kristi Toliver and the Terps overcame a physical Rutgers team that committed 23 fouls Sunday to win 67-47. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

But the Scarlet Knights, second in the Big East in scoring defense, held the Terps scoreless for 4:08 midway through the half while cutting their 10-point deficit to two.

Then Coleman started to match Rutgers’ aggressiveness and converted five free throws from that point until halftime to help the Terps build a 30-19 lead. The Scarlet Knights shot just 19 percent from the field in the half.

The Terps came into the game knowing Rutgers’ style well. They lost to the Scarlet Knights 68-60 last season in Piscataway, N.J., in a similarly bruising game, despite leading by 10 at halftime.

But Coleman wasn’t going to allow Rutgers’ knock down style to prevail again.

“Coach B even mentioned that, how we were up 10 at halftime at their place, and we lost that game,” Coleman said. “We came in with the mindset that there was no way we were going to lose this game.”

TERP NOTE: Senior guard Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood did not play because of an unspecified illness.

Sophomore Marah Strickland took her place in the starting lineup.

Strickland was a starter for most of the early season but hadn’t started since Jan. 8. akrautdbk@gmail.com

Terps pull away with vicious 2nd-half attack Women’s lacrosse shows new weapons But the Terps buried Richmond with a second-half surge, outscoring their oppoThe Terrapin women’s nents 9-2.

“We definitely picked it up lacrosse team spent 20 minutes building a six-goal lead in the second half,” coach Cathy Reese said.

Sunday, only to “We controlled the watch Richmond cut game and got a lot it in half. more production.”

But an explosive WOMEN’S Though Johnson attack led a secondLACROSSE only added one goal half onslaught, piling on nine goals to No. 6 TERPS . . . . . . . . 17 in the second half, cement Sunday’s Richmond . . . . . . . . . . 6 she still led the team with five goals on six season-opening vicshots and five draw controls tory.

“We started a little slow,” in the game.

But scoring came from all midfielder Amanda Spinnenweber said. “But at halftime, sides of the offense. Attacker we talked about how much we Brittany Jones had three liked to score and how much goals. Spinnenweber, midfun we have, and that really fielder Caitlyn McFadden and got us pumped up and ready attacker Brandi Jones all to play in the second half, and scored two goals, and Taylor we came out with a lot of added one. Mollison had two goals and a career-high three intensity and got the win.”

The No. 6 Terps squashed assists.

“We had points coming the Spiders 17-6, pushing their all-time record against from everyone,” Reese said.

“That’s what we’re looking Richmond to 16-0.

The Terps jumped to an for in our offense. We’re mulearly lead when attacker tidimensional. We’re going to Sarah Mollison scored just a be hard to stop.”

The Terps silenced doubts minute and a half into the game. Midfielder Karri Ellen about where their goals Johnson had four goals in 12 would come from after losing minutes, helping the Terps their top three scorers from push ahead 7-1 with 10:38 left last year. But the game also showed areas where the in the half.

But the six-point cushion Terps want to improve before they meet top-20 opponents. did not last long.

Terrapin fouls set up four Defender Karissa Taylor received a yellow card and, free-position goals for Richbecause of a new rule, had to mond, and in the first half, the head to the bench for a three- Spiders tied the Terps in minute penalty period, leav- ground balls and were only one behind them in draw coning the Terps a player down.

The Spiders capitalized on trols.

“There’s always room for the opportunity. Richmond star Allison Furstenburg improvement, and we didn’t scored twice against the play as well as we hoped,” shorthanded Terps, and she Johnson said. “But we still got got another man-up goal later the win, and now we can in the half while Mollison sat improve and play even better out for a yellow card, bring- next week.” ing the Spiders within three of the Terps. kyanchulisdbk@gmail.com

BY KATE YANCHULIS Staff writer

Sharpen your pencils and check out the crossword puzzle on page 5.

Guard Marah Strickland returned to the starting lineup Sunday, scoring eight points with three assists in the Terps’ 20-point win against Rutgers. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

mkatzdbk@gmail.com

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

THE UPS & THE DOWNS LANDON MILBOURNE After an inspiring 23-point showing, the junior said he had played his best game ever as a Terp.

JEFF ALLEN The Hokie power forward only scored eight points and gave a less-than-appropriate gesture after fouling out.

FREE THROWS The Terps made 24-26 including a second half stretch in which they made 21 in a row.

VIRGINIA TECH TERRAPINS

29 34

44———————73 49 ——————83

VIRGINIA TECH (16-8, 6-4 ACC) PLAYER Allen Vassallo Diakite Hudson Delaney Bell Thorns Davilla Witcher Thompson Team TOTALS

MIN 27 39 6 13 36 11 24 3 20 21

FG 3-9 6-13 1-1 1-2 6-15 2-3 1-3 0-0 4-5 2-4

FT 1-2 6-9 0-0 0-0 1-2 2-4 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-4

O-T 2-9 1-4 1-1 0-1 0-1 4-6 1-3 0-0 1-1 0-2

A 2 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 1

PF TP 5 8 3 20 0 2 4 2 3 16 2 7 2 3 0 0 2 8 3 7

200 26-55 13-21 12-31 9 24 73

PERCENTAGES–FG: 47.3 FT: 61.9 3FG: 38.1 3-POINT GOALS–8-21 (Delaney 3-8, Vassallo 2-7, Bell 1-2, Thorns 1-2, Allen 1-1, Thompson 0-1.). TURNOVERS–12 (Allen 4). BLOCKED SHOTS–0 STEALS–6 (Delaney 3).

TERRAPINS (16-8, 5-5 ACC) PLAYER MIN FG FT O-T Milbourne 38 8-11 6-6 2-6 Neal 25 3-8 3-4 0-4 Mosley 31 2-4 5-6 3-4 Vasquez 27 7-13 0-0 2-5 Bowie 24 2-5 4-4 0-2 Hayes 23 3-8 4-4 0-2 Tucker 15 1-4 0-0 1-2 Gregory 17 0-1 2-2 0-1 Team TOTALS 200 26-5424-26 10-31

A 1 1 1 2 4 5 1 0

PF 1 2 1 5 1 1 2 3

TP 23 10 9 17 8 12 2 2

15 16 83

PERCENTAGES–FG: 48.1 FT: 92.3, 3FG: 38.9 3-POINT GOALS––718 (Vasquez 3-5, Hayes 2-6, Neal 1-3, Milbourne 1-1, Bowie 0-2, Tucker 0-1 ). TURNOVERS––11 (Hayes 4). BLOCKED SHOTS––1 (Tucker 1) STEALS––6 (Mosley 3).

ATTENDANCE––17,950 (17,950).

9

TERPRECAP

TERPS 83, MIAMI 73

Terps have won three of last four HOKIES, from Page 10 -tude was a blessing. And it all started with a funny-looking haircut.

Early in the week, Milbourne got a Mohawk. He implored the rest of his teammates to follow suit in the spirit of team unity.

Only Adrian Bowie complied.

After the way Milbourne played in the new ’do, some other Terps might be convinced to give the hairstyle a try.

Milbourne led all scorers with 23 points, two coming off a highlight fast-break jam which kept fans in a tizzy during the second half. He also helped to hold Hokies forward Jeff Allen to just eight points before Allen, clearly frustrated, fouled out and flipped off the crowd. “[Milbourne] was a monster,” guard Greivis Vasquez said.

“It’s fun playing with guys like him because no matter what, he’s going to play hard.”

Vasquez fouled out as well but was impressive before his disqualification. He scored 17 points in 27 minutes and finally got his shooting stroke back while hitting three 3-pointers.

When Vasquez picked up his fourth foul, with 8:32 left in the second half, the Terps were ahead by nine points. While its leader sat on the bench to avoid a fifth foul, the team didn’t miss a beat, instead extending its lead.

“That’s probably as well as we’ve played with a lead all year,” Williams said. “We didn’t

BY THE NUMBERS A statistical look at Saturday’s game

make many mistakes when we got up seven, eight, trying to stretch it a little bit.”

It helped that the Terps took to heart the word “free” in free throws. In the last 11 minutes of the second half they knocked down 21 shots from the foul line, holding onto their lead by not letting easy opportunities pass.

While trying to mount a comeback similar to one last season in which the Hokies erased a 14point deficit to upset the Terps at Comcast Center, guards A.D. Vassallo and Malcolm Delaney combined for 36 points. But the Terps were proud of their team defense, which limited the two high-scoring Hokies until the game was pretty much decided.

When asked what the key ingredient to the team playing well was, Milbourne responded, “Maturity. I think we’ve grown over the last few games.”

With three wins in the last four games, the young team has picked a good time to mature.

Recently, the players have been more gregarious after wins and more determined to get them.

That their personalities are beginning to mold as a tight-knit team can only help.

“There was a lot of emotion in the locker room before the game,” Williams said. “And if that translated into the way we played, that’s great.”

Sean Mosley added: “The chemistry is here. We showed it tonight.” mseligdbk@gmail.com

Forward Dave Neal celebrates the Terps’ 10-point win against Virginia Tech, a key victory in staying alive for the NCAA Tournament. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

2

22

Number of free throws the Terps hit on three attempts in the first half

Number of free throws the Terps hit on 23 attempts in the second half

0 Lead changes throughout the game, as the Terps never trailed

6 Number of Terps who scored 8 or more points

SCHIMMEL

Dino Gregory and the Terp defense held Hokie point guard Malcolm Delaney in check for much of Saturday’s game. The Hokie sophomore shot just 6-of-15 from the field. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

Tougher road lies ahead SCHIMMEL, from Page 10 But before we all get too excited about the positives of the last four games — which included a respectable offensive performance in a 108-91 loss at North Carolina — let’s look ahead to what the Terps are about to face to make this recent run worthwhile.

In the Terps’ next five games, they play at Clemson, home against North Carolina, home against Duke, at N.C. State and home against Wake Forest.

Each of those teams, other than the Wolfpack, is ranked in the top 12 in the most recent Associated Press poll, and N.C. State is 12-3 at home this season with all three of its home losses coming against teams that are currently ranked.

Yikes.

“Our league, I think it’s the best league in the country right now,” coach Gary Williams said. “That’s where we are.

We’re in this league, and it’s

great to be competitive.”

I don’t mean to put an end to the Era of Good Feeling that has emerged since the negative press coverage a couple weeks ago. The media scrutiny the program has faced recently has galvanized renewed fan support for Williams, and that’s good for him and his team. But the unfortunate truth, for this season at least, is the party is about to be over.

There are only so many winnable games on an ACC schedule, and after the Terps squandered opportunities against Miami, Florida State and Boston College earlier in the season, they are going to have to pull off some major upsets to get to the eight or nine conference wins they will likely need to have a shot at the Big Dance.

And while the Terps played well Saturday, squeaked out a win last week at Georgia Tech and beat Miami in an emotional game the week before, they’ve still had to grind out

each game.

“In other words” — as Williams often likes to say — the Terps’ wins haven’t been that convincing. In other words, they probably aren’t going to be able to parlay the recent success into more wins over the next few weeks against the ACC’s elite.

The Terps have improved recently in that they’ve been able to finish games and close out wins, but they haven’t improved to the point where the overall outlook for the season should be any different.

Until they get a win against a couple of these upcoming giants, try not to get too excited.

Saturday’s win guaranteed the Terps will finish with the better than .500 overall record they need to qualify for an invitation to the NIT, but that’s no reason for you to walk around with anything more than your typical confident flamboyance. schimmeldbk@gmail.com

10

THE DIAMONDBACK | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009

Sports

ACC Men’s Basketball Weekend Scoreboard N.C. State Georgia Tech

86 65

No. 25 Florida State 63 No. 8 Wake Forest 86

No. 5 Duke Boston College

Virginia Tech TERRAPINS

73 83

No. 11 Clemson Virginia

No. 3 North Carolina 69 Miami 65

83

81 85

74 80

73

TERPS SLAM HOME WIN Nothing to get worked up about

Milbourne leads team in crucial ACC victory

BY MARK SELIG

GREG

Senior staff writer

SCHIMMEL

Minutes before tip-off Saturday, the Terrapin men’s basketball team took a bit longer than usual to re-enter the court from the locker room. In the hallway, players jokingly smacked and pushed each other as they skipped to their destination. Each had a beaming smile on his face.

Flash-forward to a couple hours later: With their game against Virginia Tech complete, the Terps were again prancing, this time off the court, with the same playful demeanor.

They acted the same way from start to finish, which is, in essence, why they were able to pull out an 83-73 victory over the Hokies (16-8, 6-4 ACC). After a schedule filled with inconsistent outings, the Terps (16-8, 5-5) played well from buzzer to buzzer on both ends of the court. In doing so, Maryland kept its once-dimunitive NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

As a reward, they led for all but 19 seconds of tied play within the first minute, and evened up their ACC record again.

“We finally got that 40minute thing going,” forward Landon Milbourne said.

Comcast Center had some extra oomph Saturday, as local celebrities were in the building and loyal fans sent a special Valentine’s Day message about their recently criticized head coach.

But even with T-shirts reading “This is Garyland” on the front and “I [heart] Our Coach” on the back and “In Gary We Trust” pins adorning fans in the lower level of the arena, the Terps played a complete game that shifted the conversation from their head coach to them.

In the late part of the season, which can become a grind on teams, the Terps’ loose atti-

G

reivis Vasquez walked into the Comcast Center media room and answered reporters’ questions with his typical confident flamboyance.

Fellow guards Adrian Bowie and Eric Hayes were soft-spoken and reflective at their respective tables, but that’s normal for them.

Forward Landon Milbourne seemed pretty talkative, but he’d just tied a career high with 23 points and played what was probably his best game of the season.

After the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s impressive 83-73 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday — an important victory that keeps the Terps’ dim NCAA Tournament aspirations alive no matter how small the hope — the Terps remained on an even keel. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“We’ve just gotta work hard,” Bowie said. “Keep playing hard as a team.”

The players’ reasons for keeping Saturday’s win in perspective are probably more optimistic than mine, but their subdued reactions were appropriate.

That’s because, while this win was certainly nice, the Terps still have their work cut out for them.

The win over the Hokies, in which the Terps finally held on to a second-half lead after failing to do so in the teams’ previous three meetings, gives the Terps their third win in their last four games and brings them back to .500 in the ACC. Their NCAA Tournament hopes have gone from laughably impossible to an unlikelyyet-plausible scenario that can once again be rationally discussed.

Please See SCHIMMEL, Page 9

Terp forward Landon Milbourne throws down a thunderous dunk over Virginia Tech’s A.D. Vassallo in the second half of the Terps’ 83-73 win Saturday. Milbourne scored a career-high 23 points in the victory. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

Physical Rutgers no match for Terps in 20-point victory

Men’s lacrosse starts season with 2 blowouts Terps fly through Air Force, Presbyterian plished,” coach Dave Cottle said. “We experimented with some things: working on the If the Terrapin men’s midfields, defensive rotations. lacrosse team was tired after We’re still not sure what we’re traveling to Jacksonville, Fla., doing [defensively].”

Though the Terps ultimately this weekend, it sure didn’t won each game with ease, they show on the scoreboard.

It took just 13 seconds for still faced game situations that midfielder Jeff Reynolds to will arise down the line against more comparable tally the Terps’ first foes. The players goal of the season know they will be betagainst Presbyterian. ter prepared to react One day, two games and 33 goals later, the MEN’S LACROSSE when that time comes.

After scrimmaging Terps headed back to No. 3 TERPS . . . . . . . . 15 College Park with Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . 4 each of the past two weekends, the Terps some game experience and two easy wins under were eager to play games that count. And with the disparity their belt.

As expected, the No. 3 Terps in talent, this weekend was as faced little resistance in win- much about improvement as it ning out at the Wounded War- was the final result.

“It gave us a chance to tweak rior Project’s “Face Off for a Cause.” The Terps scored a 15- some things, touch some things 4 victory over Air Force on Sat- up and see how it works in urday after defeating Presby- game situation,” said midterian 18-3 in their season- fielder Dan Groot, who tallied two goals and three assists on opener Friday.

“We got accomplished what we needed to get accomPlease See LACROSSE, Page 8

Please See HOKIES, Page 9

BY MICHAEL KATZ Staff writer

Women’s basketball carried by big effort from Coleman in rough-and-tumble win Knight defenders. As the senior went up for her lay-up attempt, she was pushed to the At some point in the second floor and fouled so hard that half, Terrapin women’s bas- her headband came flying off.

Coleman stood up ketball forward and shook her head, Marissa Coleman shrugging off one of decided she had seen the 23 fouls Rutgers enough.

WOMEN’S committed during the Throughout yesterBASKETBALL game, and continued day’s 67-47 Terp win at Comcast Center, No. 11 Terps . . . . . . . . . 67 to muscle up down Rutgers crowded Terp Rutgers . . . . . . . . . . . 47 low.

It was her gameshooters, harassed leading 22 points, 12 rebounders and played an intensely physical of which came at the free style that limited the Terps’ throw line, that allowed the wide-open, free-flowing offen- No. 11 Terps (21-4, 8-2 ACC) to control most of the game, sive approach.

Leading 52-38 with 7:47 despite facing perhaps their remaining, Coleman gathered most physical opponent all an offensive rebound under pressure from two Scarlet Please See RUTGERS, Page 8

BY AARON KRAUT Senior staff writer

Forward Marissa Coleman continued her recent string of strong performances with a team-leading 22 points against a physical Rutgers squad Sunday. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK