BACKTRACKING SOLD HIS SOUL Terps hope win vs. Duke tonight will reverse late downward trend SPORTS | PAGE 8
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Big Head Blues Club pays tribute to legendary Robert Johnson DIVERSIONS | PAGE 6
THE DIAMONDBACK Our 101ST Year, No. 93
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER
SGA endorses same-sex marriage bill Senate will vote Student activists, city officials voice support at meeting
on amnesty policy
BY SARAH MEEHAN
Good Samaritan sent to Univ. Senate floor
Staff writer
In front of one of its most energetic audiences of the year, the SGA publicly backed the state senate’s same-sex marriage bill — a decision that representatives said could weigh heavily on the state legislation’s final outcome. Although a crowd of about 50 students came out to support the state’s Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, discussion surrounding the Student Government Association’s position on the issue almost never made it to the floor of the full body. Before the SGA’s bill could be debated by the entire body, it had to be approved by the Governmental Affairs Committee but was ultimately voted
BY YASMEEN ABUTALEB Staff writer
Pride Alliance President Spencer Brennen voices support for the state’s same-sex marriage bill and disapproval of the actions taken by the SGA’s Governmental Affairs Committee. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK
down Tuesday night. Four out of five committee members voted to kill supporting the bill because not enough university students were directly affected by it, Director of Governmental Affairs
Summer Raza said. But at last night’s meeting, more than two-thirds of the legislature voted to overturn the committee’s
see SGA, page 2
In one swift motion, the University Senate’s most powerful committee advanced the contentious Good Samaritan protocol to the closest it has ever been to becoming a full-blown policy. It took only 10 minutes of discussion at yesterday’s Senate Executive Committee meeting for members to decide to send the latest version of the Responsible Action Protocol, which was modified to allow its implementation as an official policy, to the general body for a vote next month. Several members of the senate said they hope to finally see an end to the
debates that have raged for the past four years around the protocol, which seeks to protect students from punishment if they call 911 for dangerously intoxicated friends or themselves. Director of Student Conduct John Zacker said whether to transform the protocol, which currently defers to a case-by-case decision by the Office of Student Conduct, into a policy has been up for debate numerous times over the years. He added that he is optimistic the University Senate will respond favorably to the most recent version. “The report was very detailed; there’s
see SAMARITAN, page 3
City’s saga continues After decades of conflict, city officials and property owners continue to clash BY ANNA ISAACS Staff writer
HIV activist educates students on testing
Nearly 30 years into a rocky relationship, the College Park City Council and local landlords have yet to bury the hatchet. Whether it’s over building code enforcement or trash impact fees, it seems landlords have always found cause for complaint while the city has always found reason for stricter regulation — or so each party says. The latest blow to the unhappy union came in the form of a Januar y lawsuit in which two College Park landlords claimed the city lacks a lawful rent stabilization board and disregards details of the rent stabilization ordinance. But according to District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin, the suit, which is the second to be levied against the city’s rent price cap statute, is simply another bump on a very long and gritty road. “[Landlords’] goal is to make as much money as possible,” Catlin said. “Anything that interferes with that goal is something they threaten you over.” Catlin said the first signs of tension arose back in the mid-1980s when a county law mandated that landlords meet higher housing standards if their units were occupied by more than three students — a charge that outraged many landlords around the city. The property owners ultimately won that battle, Catlin said, because the county could not
BY ERIN EGAN Staff writer
G N I T H FIG ISTICS T A T S
Mary Beth Levin had a typical goal when she was a college student — she wanted to have sex. But growing up in Santa Monica, Calif., one with a long-standing HIV issue, she wanted to be safe. So she and her boyfriend visited the University of California Santa Cruz’s student health center. When the couple arrived, they discovered something serious: The health center would not issue him an STD test. At an event hosted by the Voices of Social Change in Stamp Student Union last night, Levin — who now works as the director of PreventionWorks!, a local organization that combats HIV/AIDS rate in D.C. through needle exchange, free testing and condom distribution — said she has spent the rest of her life making sure no college student has a similar experience. “College students are very near and dear to my heart because that’s when I got started with all of this,” she said to a crowd of about
see HIV, page 3
see LANDLORDS, page 3 PHOTOS BY JEREMY KIM/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK
Years later, a crisis averted? Some say university housing crunch is finally over BY MARIA ROMAS Staff writer
Oakland Hall, which is scheduled to open in the fall semester, has quads that are guaranteed to go to juniors, a group that has been denied on-campus beds in the past. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK
TOMORROW’S WEATHER:
Cloudy/60s
INDEX
NEWS . . . . . . . . . .2 OPINION . . . . . . . .4
Two years ago, senior kinesiology major Georgia Sideris was facing a ticking time bomb — though only a sophomore, Sideris had been denied on-campus housing for her junior year. She needed a place to live, and she needed it fast. “I was very stressed,” she said. “I thought I wouldn’t have a place to live. Resident Life kept sending me letters that basically just said, ‘You have no housing.’” And although she eventually found a place to live, Sideris was one of 490 rising juniors to be forced off the campus in 2009 due to a lack of student housing. The previ-
FEATURES . . . . . .5 CLASSIFIED . . . . .6
DIVERSIONS . . . . .6 SPORTS . . . . . . . . .8
ous year, 721 rising juniors were denied housing. But thanks to recent construction, including the South Campus Commons Building 7, The Varsity, Mazza Grandmarc and University View II — and Oakland Hall, which is set to open next semester — many upperclassmen say the housing crunch that left hundreds of students frantically searching for housing is finally over. Now, students such as sophomore biochemistry major Michele Bastani have multiple options, both on-campus and off, when considering places to live in the future. As a rising junior, Bastani will be given priority for one of Oakland Hall’s 700 beds. And now that the housing lottery is in
see HOUSING, page 2
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