The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper
March 26, 2018 | Issue No. 25, Our 108th Year
“we’re going to be the future”
brooks dubose/for the diamondback
B
y 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, the College Park Metro Station was packed with hundreds of people, many of them University of Maryland students. Toting small backpacks, water bottles and handmade signs, they steadily poured onto packed trains headed toward the nation’s capital. These Metro riders — students, College Park residents and others hailing from homes across the country — were all united by a movement that was amplified by students from a South Florida high school, which fell victim to one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.
activism
As 800,000 converge on Washington, a united push against gun violence ByJillian Atelsek | @jillian_atelsek | Staff writer After 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, student survivors pushed for stricter gun laws, calling on the nation to join them in the March for Our Lives. The march in Washington, D.C., which organizers estimated drew a crowd of about 800,000, was one of
more than 800 marches across six continents that took place Saturday. Children and families across the globe took to the streets and demanded an end to gun violence. “It seems like the debate has really shifted on an axis here,” said Nithin Venkatraman, a junior physiology
and neurobiology major who attended the march to support Stoneman Douglas students. “What they’re doing is incredible.” Police say 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas student, opened fire at the high school on Feb. 14, killing 14 students and three faculty members. In the wake of the shooting, Stoneman Douglas students have called for stricter gun laws and have denounced politicians who accept donations from the National Rifle Association, See march, p. 6
Counseling Center to hire four full-time psychologists The Unive rs i t y o f Leah Brennan Maryland’s @allhaeleah Counseling Senior staff writer Center will hire four full-time psychologists to address a demand for more mental health resources on the campus, a university official said. Three of the positions were newly created and the fourth fills a vacancy, Student Affairs Vice President Linda Clement said on by
Friday. The new posts come in response to an increasing need for campus mental health services, and resources were redirected to add the additional positions, she added. “I want everybody to know that if people are having a crisis or emergency, they can be seen,” Clement said. “There certainly are longer waits for people that have less severe conditions. Anybody with an emergency — we need to see them in the Counseling Center.”
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The center’s overall full-time employee count dipped due to budget cuts in fiscal 2015, according to a 2015-16 Counseling Center report. Of the total additional funds used to bolster campus counseling and mental health services, $100,000 is new this year from alcohol sales at Maryland Stadium and Xfinity Center, Clement said, and the remaining See counseling, p. 2
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in response to a demand for an increase in campus mental health resources, the Counseling Center will hire four full-time psychologists. Three spots are new, while the fourth fills a vacancy. file photo/the diamondback