051312

FINALS EDITION SPRING 2012

GETTING BACK DARKNESS FALLS Dark Shadows is a middling effort from Tim Burton

Chanenchuk finds home with Terps after rash of injuries SPORTS | PAGE 19

DIVERSIONS | PAGE 12

THE DIAMONDBACK THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Our 102ND Year, No. 146

College affordability struggles leave many futures in jeopardy

BY JIM BACH Senior staff writer

As a battle unfolds on Capitol Hill over starkly different plans to keep student loans affordable, a divide along party lines has left some students’ academic futures hanging in the balance.

For some students, such as sophomore public health and women studies major Rosa Abraha, the prospect of interest rates soaring to twice their present rate could threaten their chances of returning for another semester of classes. Not only

would Abraha have to postpone her dream of attending medical school, she would struggle to pay for another year at the university.

“My biggest concern — it’s probably the realest concern — is that I wont be able to stay at this university,” she said.

While Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress are at a consensus to keep interest rates frozen, they disagree over how to fund the nearly $6 billion measure to do so. Failure to reach a decision by July 1, when the measure in place is

see AFFORDABILITY, page 2

Push for all-inclusive Good Samaritan policy heats up

THE RISE AND FALL

OF A DYNASTY

Students plan to keep fighting next year

BY LAUREN KIRKWOOD Staff writer

Proponents of a policy that would grant students immunity from university sanctions if they call for help in the event of a drug overdose made crucial ground this semester, in the hopes that such a policy would result in more students seeking help in dangerous situations.

The renewed push comes more than a year after the implementation of the original Responsible Action Protocol, which protects dangerously drunk students from university punishments when someone calls for emergency medical attention. In March, the University Senate charged its Student Conduct Committee with reviewing a proposal to include drugs in

the protocol, also called the Good Samaritan policy.

This academic year, 75 students called for help under the policy, compared to 66 students last year, according to Office of Student Conduct Director Andrea Goodwin. Resident Student Conduct Manager Keira Martone said the Department of Resident Life has also seen an increase in students calling in alcohol-related medical emergencies.

“We were hopeful that those numbers would go up as students were more aware of the policy and were more willing to go for help,” she said. “I’m hoping the word has gotten out, and students are feeling they can call for help.”

Although the proposal to include

Officials prepare for new athletics dept. model

BY YASMEEN ABUTALEB AND REBECCA LURYE Senior staff writers

Kevin Anderson came to the university more than a year ago to helm the ACC’s third-largest athletics program. But the one he’s in charge of this year will be almost unrecognizable from the one he stepped into.

Just months after Anderson was named the new athletic director, he faced a crushing deficit. The department had been expe-

riencing budget shortfalls since 2006, but last year, officials realized the program was simply unsustainable.

University President Wallace Loh tasked a working group in July to examine the athletics department’s financial situation, which included an $83 million debt. And, for the first time, the department couldn’t balance its budget in fiscal year 2011. The department expected the deficit to amount to about $4.7 million, and reserves had been

see ATHLETICS, page 8

see POLICY, page 13

Loh wraps up first full year in office The secret superheroes Officials say new university president faced Incoming student and father visit several children’s hospitals dressed as Batman and Robin

unusually hectic first 18 months on the job

BY YASMEEN ABUTALEB Senior staff writer

BY LAURA BLASEY Staff writer

When Brandon Robinson’s father mentioned he had been pulled over by police on Route 29 in late March, the incoming freshman had no reason to believe the traffic stop was anything out of the ordinary.

But the rest of the world didn’t seem to think so because of one small detail: Robinson’s father is Batman.

The routine stop — featuring a man in a Batman costume driving a black Lamborghini with Batman symbols for license plates — became an overnight sensation.

see BATMAN, page 3

Brandon Robinson (left) and his father, Lenny visit children in costume. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRANDON ROBINSON

Wallace Loh knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle.

He still vividly remembers being a 15year-old in Grinnell College’s kitchen, scrubbing dishes to pay for his college education, hoping he could scrounge up a few extra dollars to pay for more than one meal a day.

“I was your typical starving student,” the now-university president said. “Like any 15year-old, what are you thinking about? ‘Do I have enough money for next week? I’ve got all this homework. I’m homesick.’ ” The teenager had come to the U.S. from Lima, Peru, with his parents’ life savings — which amounted to $300 — hoping for a better future. Loh didn’t know what that Several officials said university President

see LOH, page 9

Wallace Loh had one of the busiest first years in office. FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK

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THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

AFFORDABILITY from page 1 set to expire would double the current rate, triggering additional annual payments of more than $1,000 on student loans for more than 7.4 million people.

The added expense would further burden Abraha, who expects she would need to borrow another $20,000 in federal loans before she graduates.

“It’s definitely a mental burden and a mental stress for me that will potentially inhibit my growth in the future,” she said. “I can’t imagine having such a burden placed on me in the future.”

University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan said the struggle to find middle ground is unnerving because of both parties’ intent to keep the interest rate down.

“It’s certainly frustrating for all of us because both parties agree that they want to get this accomplished,” he said.

Junior government and politics major Landon Greer, an outof-state student, said the potential rate increase could take an even greater personal toll.

“It’s going to make the college experience much more difficult for me,” he said. “This is going to impact my ability to afford things down the road.”

And while Greer said he expects he will find a way to cope with the financial uncertainty, many other students cannot incur the added cost.

“I know that not every student will be able to do that and that’s extremely unfortunate,” he said. “I don’t want to lose anyone we have.”

Senate Democrats want to fund the measure by eliminating tax loopholes on certain businesses, according to Sue Walitsky, a spokeswoman for Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). An alternative plan to freeze interest rates — eliminating a $6 billion provision in President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare legislation — passed the House of Representatives.

However, senate Democrats are reluctant to support that measure.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spoke before the Senate Tuesday, and said Democrats are planning to pay for their version of the bill by “raising taxes

on the very businesses we’re counting on to hire these young people.”

His spokesman, Don Stewart, said the fact the Republican-led House is the only body to successfully pass a bill speaks to that plan’s merits.

“Who’s got the priority here and who just wants the political issue?” Stewart asked.

However, Walitsky said Democrats solidly support keeping student loans affordable through their plan, aimed at businesses rather than healthcare.

“We need to make this happen, and in many cases the Republicans are saying this is going to have to happen, but they’re playing games,” Walitsky said. “They’re putting all these students at risk for political purposes.”

And while political strife unfolds on the national stage, another battle for college affordability is playing out on the state level.

On the last day of the legislative session last month, state lawmakers passed a budget that featured nearly $50 million in reductions to the university system, as both legislative chambers failed to pass a measure to raise revenues that would offset such cuts. System officials said the bill could spark a 10 to 13 percent increase in tuition.

However, Gov. Martin O’Malley has called lawmakers back to Annapolis for a special session to address the revenue issue and avoid cuts to the system’s budget.

Kirwan said he was confident lawmakers would continue their commitment to higher education and remedy what some called the “doomsday” budget.

“Basically, the leadership in the General Assembly from the House and Senate have agreed upon a revenue package to fund the budget that we thought we were going to have,” Kirwan said. The original budget would cut $5.3 million from the system.

Several legislators, such as Sen. Roger Manno (D-Montgomery), said the current revenue proposals are not enough to protect funding to higher education. Manno drafted a bill that would increase revenue by more than $500 million through a restructuring of state income tax brackets.

“It provided enough money

“They don’t want to go home and face their constituents not having fixed this problem.”

POTENTIAL TUITION HIKES

BRIT KIRWAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND CHANCELLOR

to fully fund higher education,” Manno said. “We wouldn’t have had to raise tuition at the University of Mar yland, we would have raised so much money.”

The revenue package under consideration for the special session raises a little more than $250 million, and while Manno said he hopes it doesn’t feature cuts to higher education, he said he anticipates “very deep cuts,” to state services.

Republican lawmakers have voiced their opposition to a special session, as House Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell (R-Calvert and St. Mary’s) said it is an excuse to raise taxes on businesses and residents. O’Donnell added that this only further disadvantages graduates in their job search because many firms have moved to Virginia as a result of past tax increases.

“When people graduate from higher education we want them to have jobs,” he said. “We’re taxing the job creators out of the state.”

Despite the deadlock, Kirwan said he is optimistic Congress will ultimately negotiate to keep interest rates down.

“I’m confident it will get done because they don’t want to go home and face their constituents not having fixed this problem,” he said.

Students said the delay in Congress is frustrating, given that many lawmakers place a high importance on college students.

“We hear Congress and the president in the past talk about how important higher education is,” Greer said. “Then we have these crucial moments like this where it actually comes to backing up their words and when we look at their actions, it doesn’t speak to what they actually want done.” bach@umdbk.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

BATMAN from page 1

Robinson and his father were finally forced to divulge their shared secret: By morning, they were ordinary people — Robinson was a high school student living with his mother in Harrington Park, N.J., and Lenny was a 48-year-old Baltimore-area businessman.

By afternoon, they assumed the roles of Batman and Robin, traveling the state of Maryland on a crusade against not the Joker or Riddler or Penguin, but a different kind of evil: pediatric cancer and other juvenile diseases.

“People at first are kind of shocked and don’t really believe me when I tell them we do this,” Brandon said. “I always keep a picture on my cell phone of us in costume to show them.”

Brandon said he didn’t even realize his father’s traffic stop had gone viral until The Washington Post picked the stor y up and friends from his high school started talking about it. That day in March, Lenny was headed home from Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, where the Hope For Henr y Foundation had hosted a superhero party in

the hospital’s pediatric ward.

Lenny and Brandon have attended dozens of events like these since 2001, when they discovered their super power in bringing joy to sick children.

“The kids look at them and think they’re the real Batman and Robin,” said Laurie Strongin, founder and Executive Director of the Hope For Henry Foundation. “They really inhabit the characters of Batman and Robin, and the amount of joy they bring is incredible.”

They always make sure to leave the house for an event in full character, so they keep the dream alive for the kids.

“My four-year-old son believes he is the real-life Bruce Wayne,” wrote Washington Post columnist Mike Rosenwald, a close family friend.

It all started with a six-yearold Brandon, who idolized the Dark Knight.

“I really just fell in love with the character,” he said. “It would be 98 degrees out in August by the pool, and there I was, running out in my Batman costume.”

He even made his parents wait for him while he put on his costume for trips to the grocery store.

3

Soon, it became a bond between father and son.

Despite a divorce, which put them on opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, they were still united by a love of all things Batman.

“I never really thought that anything would have come from me loving Batman so much,” Brandon said.

Over the years, Lenny caught the Batman bug and began to collect memorabilia in a “Batcave” at his home near Baltimore — he “had to have the best suit,” custommade in New Jersey for $5,000, and he bought a black Lamborghini made to look like the Batmobile. Brandon's Robin costume was an exact replica of the costume actor Burt Ward wore as the Boy Wonder in the 1966 movie Batman.

Lenny began visiting hospitals and schools in his full suit and Batmobile 11 years ago to hand out rubber Batman bracelets and small toys and sometimes give anti-bullying presentations, all on his own dime and time.

Working under the project name Superheroes For Kids, Lenny spends more than $25,000 a year of his own money on visiting sick children. His slogan reads, “At the

end of the day, you must ask yourself, ‘Self, did I make a difference?’ And the answer had better be yes.”

Although each of his three sons accompanied him at one time or another as Robin, it was Brandon who showed the most interest.

“Brandon’s come with me probably 50 or 60 times,” Lenny said.

He now works closely with Hope For Henry, Sinai Hospital, Mt. Washington Pediatrics, the DC CARES Foundation and the Hackerman-Patz House and participates in walks for cystic fibrosis, among other diseases. He has also made appearances at Georgetown University Hospital and Children’s Hospital.

“Most people won’t love putting on a pair of green tights and being in them for five to 10 hours,” Brandon said. “But once I went to the hospitals, I realized the impact it had on the kids. I could have been wearing anything else, but seeing the impact I made made it worth it.”

Brandon said he usually takes a sidekick role because the focus is on Batman. But over the course of his experiences, he said, he’s learned that everyone can be a superhero.

“I remember at one school, there was a kid with autism and he came up and told me that although everyone is obsessed with Batman, Robin was his favorite character,” Brandon said. “I got a letter the following week from his mother about how I really had touched her child’s heart and made him happy and how it was the first time she had seen him smile in weeks — it really put me in a different place.”

“It’s made him aware,” said Lenny. “Other kids his age don’t necessarily appreciate what they’ve got and this had made Brandon and his brothers really aware.”

Becoming Batman and Robin isn’t an easy feat; there is no quick change of clothes in a phone booth. It can take Lenny up to 45 minutes to get into full costume — which doesn’t allow him to use the bathroom — and the fatherson duo spend hours the night before a visit cleaning the Batmo-

Brandon Robinson (left) and his father, Lenny (center), have attended dozens of events for sick children in their Batman and Robin attire since 2001. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRANDON ROBINSON

bile and sorting Batman toys, books, hats and necklaces.

By now, they’ve got it down to a science. But of course, things can, and sometimes do, go wrong.

The Robinsons have drawn the attention of Maryland police before, when the Batmobile got a flat tire on the way to an event. They also have to make sure they leave plenty early to make it to events on time — Lenny told The Washington Post that it can take up to 30 minutes just to get out of a gas station because everyone wants a picture.

And even Batman can get a traffic ticket. In the incident that made international news this past March, Lenny had been pulled over for failing to have proper license plates because, according to state police, Batman symbols aren’t a substitute for real license plate numbers. Fortunately, Lenny carried the real plates in his car, and was able to scrape by without a ticket on the good will of the officers who pulled him over.

What came of the event was a police dashboard camera video that went viral, and Lenny and Brandon faced what many superheroes fear: the revelation of their true identities.

Their civilian names were by no means a secret, but the entire operation was a quiet one. After the Post article, however, the “Route 29 Batman” was thrust into the spotlight. Between interviews and hospital visits, letters and phone calls flood in from around the world, including Croatia, Germany, Vietnam and Brazil.

“It’s definitely different,” Brandon said. “There are more phone calls and cameras, but the overall message of we what do has not changed and will not change.”

In August, Brandon will be starting as a freshman at this university. He plans to apply to the business school and wants to go pre-law — perhaps to become a real-life crime fighter.

Lenny has even bigger plans — he said he envisions a team of Maryland students as different superheroes, all fighting for the same cause, and is considering a book deal.

Despite the recent success and spotlight, Brandon said they will continue their superhero work to inspire the children and families who need it.

“Each and every day, these kids are fighting for their lives, to get better and be healthy,” Brandon said. “I think us being there provides them with a sense of hope that in the end, they’ll be okay.” blasey@umdbk.com

4

THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

0pinion

YASMEEN ABUTALEB

THE DIAMONDBACK

EDITOR IN CHIEF

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OPINION EDITOR

FINAL REPORT CARD Wallace Loh

Guest column

University President Wallace Loh’s initiatives are all impressive — on paper. He has expanded this university’s reach across the world and has taken a stance on a number of university issues. We haven’t found fault in any of his actions, but his projects have not yet directly affected students. We hope Loh is prepared to follow through on his projects and are eagerly awaiting tangible results.

The University Police have a bad reputation with students; many equate the body with the Prince George’s County Police that handled the post-Duke game fiasco in 2010. While the alert system still needs work, as its inconsistency leaves students wondering whether there’s still danger, the department has recently made a concerted effort to improve relations with students.

C-

Athletic Director Kevin Anderson has faced significant criticism this year, but most of it is well deserved. New football coach Randy Edsall’s first season was a disaster. Anderson played hardball with Georgetown University over men’s basketball scheduling and it blew up in his face. Meanwhile, the athletics department still hasn’t announced a concrete plan to increase revenue.

The College Park City Council’s traditional anti-student stance has remained largely intact. Fearing a flood of students into Old Town, the council opposed smart redevelopment of the Maryland Book Exchange. However, given student apathy in local elections, we can’t blame council members for representing the constituents who actually put them into office.

C

Vice President for Administrative Affairs Rob Specter is Loh’s point man on the East Campus development and handling the workplace abuse allegations. He’s done a fair job with the former, as the development has made concrete steps forward. As for the latter, he has failed to address the workplace abuse recommendations with the sense of urgency they deserve.

Outgoing SGA President Kaiyi Xie has been a strong advocate for students. He’s passionate about his objectives, from fixing the SGA student fee process to imploring the University Senate to become more transparent. Xie hasn’t been able to rally legislators into a fully active body, but he set a number of initiatives in motion that we think will make the SGA more responsive to student needs.

B+ Kevin Anderson

Rob Specter

University Police

B-

B CP City Council

C Kaiyi Xie

B

Editorial cartoon: Ben Stryker

I am Fake Wallace Loh: And so can you!

H

ow did we get this far? Just more than one year ago, I watched an episode of The Colbert Report, in which guest Dan Sinker detailed his brief stint as the operator of the infamous Twitter feed, @MayorEmanuel. As a parody of Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel, the vulgar feed became enormously popular and has since inspired many more fake Twitter accounts.

At the time, I was new to Twitter, using it only to post my Diamondback columns. My account, @gregnasif, would fluctuate between three and seven followers. Upon watching the episode, I wondered: Could I do that too? And if so, whom could I parody? Who out there has desperately poor public relations skills to lampoon?

This was before Randy Edsall had come to this university, so the answer was obvious. On March 31, 2011, Fake Wallace Loh was born.

Never would I have thought social networking could be so much fun. I was insulting current or future millionaires, Lohcal stars and major athletes, and actually offending them. I remember live-

GREG NASIF tweeting events, like graduation last year, when I made fun of jobless behavioral and social sciences college and arts and humanities college students (me in three weeks), along with DeMaurice Smith.

Offending people was awesome, from Greek life (I’m in a fraternity) to Occupiers (consider me a leftist) to the Penn State scandal (I oppose child molestation). Indeed, if there’s anything I’ve learned throughout this journey, it’s that real comedy is shameless and relentless.

I even staged bitter arguments with my real account. Yeah, things got weird.

I tried my best to stay on top of every major event at the university, from athletic cuts to bar cLohsures, $7.2 million mansions to phantom tornadoes. Sometimes I was lucky, such as being in McKeldin Library during an impromptu dance party. Other times, I was abroad

for an entire semester. No complaints, but perhaps you’ve noticed very few tweets past 6:00 p.m. EST lately.

It was really cool reading newspaper articles on the feed and even cooler when students responded enthusiastically to my tweets. To some, it was just tweeting. To me, it was making comedy for an audience.

Among those who knew my identity, many seemed to believe that I despised university President Wallace Loh or believed him incompetent. This could not be further from the truth; though he provides excellent comedy fodder, I respect Loh as an intelLohgent and accomplished man. I believe his handling of the budget crisis has been close to perfect. I don’t blame him for irrational police behavior. And I have faith in every one of his hires, including Athletic Director Kevin Anderson. By the way, no, I don’t know who is behind the @FakeKvinAndrson feed, and I wouldn’t tell you if I did. Another question answered: No, I won’t push your product or retweet your cause, unless you’re Zach Lederer. By the way Zach, where’s the love? The Photoshopped Wallace

Loh #Zaching photo wasn’t exactly easy; MacBooks don’t have Paint. Also, you’re awesome. Beat that cancer.

Some people have even outright asked for control of the feed. What is wrong with you people? Why would I just give it up, no questions asked? Seriously, sLoh your roll.

Perhaps those people have noticed the italics at the bottom of this page. I am indeed a (super) senior, and my time has come. I will not operate this feed from a cubicle, I will not let it die with the rest of my hopes and dreams, I don’t want to terminate it, but most of all, I won’t just give it off as a favor or a token of friendship. I take pride stepping down more than 50 followers ahead of the real Loh (@presidentloh). Talk about Loh standards.

I challenge you to make your case. Email me at the address below or at fakewallaceloh@gmail.com.

Prove to me why you deser ve to spread the word of the Loh. Thanks for reading my columns, it’s been real. #TheLohGoesOn. Greg Nasif is a senior history major. He can be reached at nasif@umdbk.com.

Your grades do not define you

F

inals week so often brings out the worst in us in the very worst way. Already overwhelmed and undernourished, this week brings the pressure to perform brilliantly and to prove our worth with the looming uncertainty of the future. Grades acquire a certain sense of urgency, as if the difference between an A- and a B+ eliminates graduate school as an option, or destroys a career path. For some, it might. But while the difference between an A and a B may have some minor impact on the future, the difference will never affect who you are as a person.

I know it seems important to earn that final A, and in many ways, it is. This is far more important to remember: You are not your grades. You are not your major, your grade point average or your transcript. You are a human being. What’s more, you are yourself — the only person who can make that claim. Only you

can reach your full potential and fully be yourself. Anyone can get an A in organic chemistry. Anyone can write a thesis for his or her departmental honors program. Anyone can be a business major.

The results of your exams may seem important now, but they are miniature stepping stones in a lifelong process. One hundred years from now, no one will remember what your grades were. If you make mistakes, move on. It will never be too late to improve, to change your mind or to step up. It’s never too late to become the person you’ve always wanted to be.

Instead of worrying, do what matters to you and what you find important. The push to have the best grades, the best internships, to attend the most prestigious universities — none of it matters unless it’s what you really want. We all feel the demand for competition, to be better than others. And indeed, your resumé might be better in comparison,

JAKE DEVIRGILIIS but you will never be better than another human being. You can only ever be better than the person you were yesterday.

Yet, there’s no shame in being proud of excellent grades. If you worked hard for that A, be proud. But if you tortured yourself for it, was it worth it? Is that what being alive is about? So much more is accomplished through passion and enthusiasm than through misery. Grades aren’t worth your happiness. None of your friends define you by your GPA, your major or anything else so trivial and impermanent.

They know what’s important. You are much more than your grades, infinitely

An SGA makeover

more complex than a transcript and far, far greater than a diploma.

Remember as you go through finals, your grades don’t say one thing about your character. They’re just letters and numbers, and they don’t determine who you are. The words on your degree may make an impression on some future employers, but they won’t do much else.

If you want to make a lasting impact, it’s the words you think in your head and feel in your heart and shout from your mouth that matter. If you want to make a difference to another human being, to have a positive influence on a young person, to fall in love with someone wonderful, your grades make no difference whatsoever. Stop identifying with them.

You are already so much more.

Jake DeVirgiliis is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at devirgiliis@umdbk.com.

efore the Student Government Association elections, I had conversations with more than 100 students in a week and a half. I asked them about their past experiences and communication with the SGA. Most of them had only heard about extremely dramatic situations, such as the plus-and-minus grading system and the “doomsday” budget. Although students are busy, the ones I talked to were hungry for more information about university issues. They wanted their representatives to talk to them and get their feedback. Most students did not even know they were represented both by their college and residency.

Some in the past have claimed “Student Government Association” is a misnomer, since the SGA cannot create policy on its own. However, I think this gives a far too narrow understanding of how governance takes place, and I believe student governance certainly has its place within this university’s important concept of “shared governance.” While the SGA cannot unilaterally pass any legislation that would change university policy, its members are tasked with representing students to the administration, city council, state legislature and federal government.

Governance is not just voicing an opinion. It is reaching out to all interested parties, getting feedback on solutions and building consensus around a policy that works for those who actively participate. In this sense, the SGA’s name is exactly on point.

For next year to be a transformative one for the organization, we will need to embrace this idea. The job of its members is to connect students with the right resources. I talked to one student about running with me for SGA, and he told me if he were going to run, he would be selfish in that he would want to use the SGA as a tool to get his projects accomplished. I think this is the definition of what the group is. Students have initiatives they want to pursue, but many times they don’t know how to go about doing it. For better or for worse, the SGA is granted access to information and resources that other students are not. The SGA should be using these connections effectively to not only advance the personal projects of its members, but also advance those of its constituents.

In the end, none of this matters if we cannot afford to enter and remain in college. Making education affordable is the first and most pressing issue we must tackle. When I say “we,” I do not just mean the SGA. Every leader at this university should be working toward this goal, whether we are students, faculty or staff. Tuition and fees will increase next year for students at this university — there is no question about that. Unfortunately for students, Congress is currently fighting over whether to keep interest rates low on Stafford student loans, and compounded with the increased tuition and fees, this could be fatal for some of our futures. This is why I hope to work with other influential organizations, such as the Residence Hall Association, University Senate, the four fraternity and sorority governing bodies and every student group that wants to make this a priority, in an effort to combat this and any other issue that threatens our opportunity for success.

It is no secret that I want to expand the SGA. There are about 25 positions to which I intend to appoint students next semester, and I hope to fill the SGA with talented and passionate individuals. So I am asking you to use the SGA as your tool for creating change at the university. If you want a position or just have a passion, email me and let me know. Help us help you.

Samantha Zwerling is the Student Government Association president. She can be reached at samanthazwerling@gmail.com.

OPINION STAFF WANTED The Diamondback is seeking paid opinion columnists and editorial cartoonists for the 20122013 school year. Editorial cartoonists publish cartoons once or twice a week. Opinion columnists write approximately once every two weeks. Exceptional writing ability is required. Knowledge of campus affairs is preferred, but not required. If you are interested in applying for either position, please contact Maria Romas at opinion@umdbk.com for more information and to request an application.

POLICY: Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent 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.

THE DIAMONDBACK | OPINION | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

5

Sexual assault: Why the culture of acceptance?

W

orking at a newspaper does funny things to you. Night after night of working in the newsroom — receiving countless crime alerts and editing dozens of stories about terrible incidents on and around the campus — you become almost desensitized to the severity of these events. You like to think it doesn’t happen, but it does. I’ve worked here for two years, and as much I have tried to remain sensitive when such incidents occur, it’s hard to take a step back and actually realize what’s happened.

Until it happens to someone you know.

Last week, one of my best friends was walking home after a night out. She wanted to leave early and didn’t want to disrupt anyone else’s fun, so she figured she’d be fine making the five-minute walk from Route 1 to her South Campus Commons apartment alone.

As she was walking up a fairly crowded Knox Road, a group of guys approached her, and one of them grabbed her butt. She wheeled around, shocked.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

His response: “You deserved it. Slut.”

While it is never okay to justify an assault by what the victim was wearing, I want to make it clear: She was wearing jeans and the kind of top that would be

OK to wear to class. She wasn’t drunk. She wasn’t doing anything except walking. Yet for some reason, this group of guys — who all stood well more than a foot taller than her — decided she should be the target of an assault. And no one even tried to help — the group of guys laughed at her. She was victimized, and they found it funny.

We’ve all heard people talk about how students — especially women — shouldn’t walk alone at night, and we know to be wary. But my friend was walking on the edge of the campus — a place that’s largely considered safe. Most of the guys looked like they were students; this wasn’t a case of random weirdos traveling to College Park to harass young women.

Worst of all, this wasn’t an isolated incident — this was the third time it had happened to her.

There’s no question that both men and women should be careful walking around the city, especially at night. The regular crime alerts from University Police and breaking news stories are enough to scare us into taking extra caution. But women shouldn’t have

to worry about walking along the campus and being grabbed. It may not be a big deal to the perpetrator, but to the victim, it’s traumatizing. It feels like nowhere is safe.

I’ve heard plenty of second- and third-hand tales of assault, and I’ve always respected the statistics. I’ve known physical and verbal assault is a very real problem, and that far too many people are affected by it every second. But when I was sitting with my friend, watching her cry her eyes out over the horrifying event that had just happened to her, the trauma surrounding assault suddenly hit closer to home.

According to the Department of Justice, one in four college-aged women are victims of sexual assault, and the majority of the time, the perpetrator is someone the victim knows. It’s simply unacceptable that these incidences are so common.

The fact is no matter how violent or nonviolent the assault may be, it’s always traumatizing. If this sort of thing happens so often, and right on the campus, we can’t even trust our peers.

From the editor

YASMEEN ABUTALEB

Since these crimes so often go unreported, my friend decided not to report it. She couldn’t identify the victim, and she didn’t think anyone would care.

Simply put, she didn’t think anyone could do anything to prevent it from happening again. To her, there was no point in reporting it.

But there’s something we can all do to prevent these incidents from happening. Next time you hear about an assault — which, unfortunately, will probably happen relatively soon — take a minute and think about if it were you or your friend who had been the victim. We shouldn’t have to walk on the campus wondering if an arm or a hand will come out of nowhere, and we shouldn’t have someone tell us we asked for it.

Women often brush off incidents like the one my friend experienced as a silly prank or something that isn’t a big deal. But even cat calls, whistling and crude comments are degrading, and it’s not fair for women — or anyone — to have to accept this sort of behavior as common practice. As a community, it’s time to come together and demand more.

Yasmeen Abutaleb is a sophomore journalism and microbiology major. She can be reached at abutaleb@umdbk.com.

Editorial cartoon: Kevin Brooks

Guest column

Thanks for ‘Zaching,’ Terp Nation

From the university president

T

his academic year provides ample evidence that this university’s “IQ” is rising. Our “Innovation Quotient” sparkled with flashes of creativity by students, faculty and staff. Consider these examples: A student team — supported by faculty, staff and mentors — designed and built “WaterShed,” an environmentally sustainable and beautiful home of the future. It won the Solar Decathlon competition, beating university teams from around the country and the world.

The annual faculty invention awards recognized high-impact research, including a new way to neutralize the flu virus and a sensor to detect small amounts of explosives.

An international measure, the Leiden Ranking, captures our intellectual effervescence this year. It ranked this university 20th among U.S. public universities in its research impact.

We established new partnerships this year, at home and abroad, to power our “IQ” growth.

At home, we partnered with the Food and Drug Administration and other institutions to launch a center that will help improve the FDA’s evaluation of new drugs and medical devices. We opened an international food safety training laboratory, together with federal agencies and the private sector. Our Maryland Cybersecurity Center is up and running.

Our international networking included an agreement between the behavioral and social sciences college and Beijing Normal University for joint research on global climate change. In a few weeks, I will visit universities in South Korea and Taiwan — at their invitation — to expand our educational and research exchanges.

The purpose is to strengthen this institution as a research and innovation university on the world stage.

One of the most exciting developments this year was our strategic collaboration with the University of Mar yland, Baltimore. Not only will this initiative reinforce our commitment to basic research — in fields such as bioinformatics and bioengineering — it will dramatically expand the opportunities for education, research and innovation, drawing on our complementar y strengths. For example, we are creating University of Mar yland Ventures to integrate our technology commercialization operations. The mission is to create the new companies and new jobs of tomorrow.

There are ongoing initial conversations with students, faculty, staff and administrators about establishing Innovation Academy Mar yland to expand innovation education in all colleges, across all disciplines and throughout the curriculum. The mission is to educate the innovators of tomorrow.

All these accomplishments and works in progress point to the this university’s rising “Innovation Quotient” — our continuing ascent as a research university and as an innovation university.

And so to the thousands of students who are graduating this month, we wish you well. You are well-prepared with a first-rate education and life experiences that will take you far in your careers and lives. And to the rest of the staff, faculty and students, thank you all for a tremendous year. You are part of a creative community of some 50,000, creating and transmitting knowledge, and putting that knowledge into practice to make a difference. I cannot think of a more exciting time and a more exciting place to live and work than right now and right here, at this university.

Wallace Loh is president of the University of Maryland. He may be reached at president@umd.edu.

Guest column

D

Letter to a young columnist

I

’m peacing out in a bit, so hear me out for a few hundred words. I bailed on the University Senate to take this job during the summer before my junior year. It was a decision that probably lost me some networking opportunities. It was also a decision that allowed me, like ever ybody who isn’t in the University Senate, to not care about the University Senate. It also gave me a platform to refine coffee-table talk into researched and succinct columns concerning things I really cared about.

Ever y columnist has some kind of voice, an identity that lives in their work. In my experience, it grows naturally. My impetus for writing has always been social justice at a local, state and national level. I was the “race” guy. I touched the subjects of race, class, citizenship and gender because I feel those things are important categories to analyze.

Some people disagree.

Well, duh. People talk beaucoup junk on the campus, and they’re entitled to.

But if you want to be a columnist, you better crack open those books.

If not, you might end up deploying masculinist-coded language to attack Joss Whedon’s feminist track record and have The Diamondback’s readership fr y your ass in the comments section.

I’ve publicly disputed things my fellow columnists have said only to

MICHAEL CASIANO keep them honest, because I know we can always do better, myself included. I’ve personally gotten eviscerated in emails by readers in an embarrassing and humbling fashion. After picking my face up, I always tried to do better in the next column. I hope current and future columnists will keep that in mind.

Just stay away from the trash in the comments section — that can mess up your head.

The Diamondback will lose a lot of columnists over the summer to graduation, and it’ll hire more to take our places. I would implore each and ever y current and future columnist to go bonkers in these 500-600 word joints. This paper has a huge circulation. People actually read this stuff. If you don’t believe me, just look at state Sen. Jim Rosapepe’s (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s) Monday letter to the editor. He was pressed because The Diamondback dissed him. Don’t take your influence for granted.

You can write the most apolitical, carefree columns or be a politically charged, arrogant schmuck (I’ll admit to that). Don’t do this for the sake of getting published. Don’t tr y

to pad your resumé. Don’t phone in your columns. Upon being hired, you’ve been accepted into an exclusive circle based on your talent.

Your inclusion necessitates the exclusion of thousands of other student voices at the university.

You are granted a voice to share your insights, stories and opinions.

You are vested with the duty to spread knowledge. What you pour into the well of collegiate discourse is more important than you think.

The ludicrous idea of “reverse racism” only exists because people keep saying the damn phrase (My plan is to say it so many times it becomes an empty signifier, like a Che Guevara shirt). It’s like Foucault said: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

A few tidbits before I leave forever. I’m not afraid of communists.

Terrorism never scared me. Class warfare doesn’t exist in the United States. The “war on drugs” is a racist project. Minorities can be racist. I adhere to facets of Marxist ideology. Mitt Romney did not save the auto industr y. Tupac was better than Biggie.

Thanks, it’s been real. P.S. I’ve misquoted Michel Foucault on several occasions as a columnist.

To be honest, I don’t even know who she is.

Michael Casiano is a senior American studies and English major. He can be reached at casiano@umdbk.com.

Going beyond the classroom

F

our years ago, I had no idea what to expect of college. I heard it is the best four years of your life, but it’s hard to believe unless you experience it. Some think the only purpose of college is to further your academics, but I couldn’t disagree more. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the past four years is that college does so much more than just provide students with a classroom education.

For many, college is the transition between living at home and entering the real world. The first step in this transition period is getting outside of your comfort zone.

Each year, student organizations hold auditions, rushes and other events to recruit new members.

Choosing a good organization to join is essentially trial and error. I hated the first group I joined but then found an a cappella group, Faux Paz, that would eventually change my life. Getting out of your comfort level, which may be hard to do while still living at home, is one of the great things about college that prepares you for life after graduation.

College also enables students to grow into the people they will become in life. Some may have had extremely strict parents who dictated every aspect of their upbringing. Others may have had relaxed

JOSH BIRCH parents but still didn’t get the experience of living on their own.

College forces us to grow up and begin making decisions independently. There is no longer anyone who looks over your shoulder telling you to do this or do that.

You must be the one who decides the balances of your life — not your parents. Freshman year can prove exceptionally difficult for some because the appeal of partying every night can easily overtake homework and studying. However, as the years go by, and we begin to think about life after college, most settle into habits that will benefit their career goals.

But perhaps the most important thing I will take away from college is the people I’ve met and the memories I’ve made. Looking back on my four years here, the memories are nearly endless: Rushing the court after defeating Duke in basketball, raging in the streets after Osama bin Laden was killed, hearing President Barack Obama speak at Comcast Center and witnessing a tornado warning, earthquake and hurricane in less than two months

account for just some of the events over the past four years.

But beyond even the memories are the people you encounter. This university’s diversity allows students to interact with people they may not otherwise interact with.

The people you surround yourself with is what the true college experience is about. Your close friends become your family away from home. They are the ones you share the memories, the laughs and the hurt with. There is a saying that best friends from high school are temporar y, but best friends in college can last a lifetime. After living out my college experience, I couldn’t agree more.

So yes, while furthering one’s academic studies is of utmost importance, college provides much more than just a classroom education. It provides you with the tools you need for life, the people you need for support and the times you will never forget. After all, the friends I’ve made and the memories I’ve experienced over the past four years will last longer than any material I’ve learned in the classroom. Now looking back, it was the best four years of my life. For those who remain, never take it for granted, and enjoy the ride.

Josh Birch is a senior communication and history major. He can be reached at birch@umdbk.com.

uring my first semester at this university, I got to witness firsthand how crazy and adamant Terrapins fans are for their teams. I had a great appreciation for the student sections at the sporting events but didn’t know much about the university community beyond that. I would soon find out how close-knit and supportive Terp Nation is and has always been.

I was diagnosed with brain cancer on Dec. 9, 2004 as a sixth grader. I’d lived in Ellicott City all my life and had become very familiar with my community. It was no surprise to me that they were so supportive of my fight and victory over cancer in 2004 through 2006.

This January, when I heard the news that I once again had brain cancer, I had no clue how my new community would react. I was new to the campus and didn’t feel like I was fully a part of the university family yet. I was a student manager of the men’s basketball team and had become very close with the players and coaches, so I knew that they would support my upcoming battle and me.

Little did I know how involved the student body and faculty would become in my current battle with brain cancer. Students — many of whom I did not know — came to my aid quickly by creating events to raise awareness of both cancer in general and my new nonprofit organization, Zaching Against Cancer. A social media class took on “Zaching” as their cause for a semester-long project. The University of Maryland Relay for Life committee visited me at my home and invited me to take part in their survivors’ dinner and the survivors’ lap of the relay. Mark Sherwood, a cameraman for the basketball team, did several stories on me. University President Wallace Loh reached out and told me how proud he was of me and what I was doing. Fraternities and sororities, sports teams, faculty, classes, dorms, clubs and alumni all posted Zaching pictures on the Zaching Tumblr page. Countless people took the time out of their days to write me a message on Facebook or send me an email telling me how they have been affected by my story and that they support me in this battle.

All of this support has really meant the world to me; it is impossible for me to convey how important this support has been to my recovery and maintaining my positive attitude.

It’s amazing how such a large campus can feel so small, close-knit and supportive when you need it the most.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and other cancer patients — we are going to beat this disease together. Being a part of the University of Maryland community has far exceeded all of my expectations. I look forward to returning to the campus, classes and the basketball program in the fall.

Zachary Lederer is a freshman journalism major. He can be reached at zmlederer@gmail.com.

AIR YOUR VIEWS Address your letters or guest columns to Maria Romas at opinion@umdbk.com. All letters and guest columns must be signed.

Include your full name, year, major and day- and night-time phone numbers. Please limit letters to 300 words and guest columns to between 500 and 600 words. Submission of a letter or guest column constitutes an exclusive, worldwide, transferable license to The Diamondback of the copyright of the material in any media. The Diamondback retains the right to edit submissions for content and length.

POLICY: Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent 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.

6

THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

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EMPLOYMENT

F/T Telerecruiter needed at MedStar Health Blood Donor Services, Calverton, MD, to recruit blood donors & organizational blood drives via telephone & internet marketing. 1-2 years sales/customer service experience in a call center preferred. Strong PC, verbal communication & work ethic required. $16-$17.50/hour.

Send resumes & cover to givelife@medstar.net.

Web Application Designer Summer Internship The Diamondback is looking for a computer science and information systems major with a diverse skill-set and experience developing web applications for mobile devices. The position will dive head first into creating a mobile application for the iPhone and Android platforms. Internship can be used for credit. * Integrate client website designs into mobile format * Interface with editor in chief to design, code, test and implement applications programs * Responsible for developing application specifications * Requires troubleshooting and correcting production issues * Potential to direct other application developers for the experienced candidate Experience in basic HTML, JavaScript, SQL, Oracle, Unix, Android and iOS interface design tools, mobile application architectures and design elements preferred.

Seeking a June 4th start date with a mid-August launch date. Internship can be remote with weekly conference call for regular updates.

Email resume and sample portfolio links to advertising@dbk.umd.edu.

Receptionist Needed to work Tuesday-Friday 3pm-9pm. Base pay of $8.70/hr. plus commission. Must be dependable, and sales experience a plus!

301-220-0055 CAMP COUNSELOR – SUMMER DAY CAMP. Counselors needed in Darnestown, MD for a fun-filled summer with children in the woodsy outdoors. Specialists also needed in swimming, canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, gymnastics, basketball, archery and air rifle. CDL desirable. Training provided starting now. June 9- August 18. Apply online: www.valleymill.com. 301-948-0220.

EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT

University of WE WANT YOU! Maryland Seniors...

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Call Tom at 301-257-3737 today (between 10am-2pm).

GOT EXTRA STUFF? THE DIAMONDBACK CLASSIFIEDS ARE THE PERFECT PLACE TO SELL YOUR EXTRA STUFF. CALL 301-314-8000 MON.-FRI. 9:30 A.M.-4:30 P.M. TO PLACE YOUR AD WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD.

Are you outgoing?

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ANALYST A leading telecommunications consulting firm based in Greenbelt, MD is seeking an individual for an entry level position in our Network Services department. Qualified candidates should possess a college degree, strong verbal and written communication skills, and basic PC proficiency. Successful applicant will be hard-working, enthusiastic and a great team player. Candidate must possess the desire and ability to learn, contribute and grow in this dynamic industry and firm. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, along with a casual and stimulating work environment.

Excellent growth potential. V isit our website at www.jsitel.com.

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2 Bedroom, 2 Bath units available at the University View for Fall 2012. Call 301-220-0951 now to secure your apartment! www.universityview.net.

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Available August 1 or sooner. Fenced yard, off-street parking, washer/dryer, ac. $2700/month plus utilities. Please call 202-549-7778. $500 referral fee paid.

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SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 | THE DIAMONDBACK

7

Features HOROSCOPESTELLA WILDER

CROSSWORD 32 Clearing in a forest 34 “Forget” a letter 35 Prohibition 38 Wittier 42 Put on

43 Desert rich in copper 45 Strolls 46 Pierre’s monarch 47 Free-for-alls

50 Newscaster Paula — 51 “Peter and the Wolf” duck 52 Gulls’ cries 53 Black-hearted

ACROSS 59 Ziegfeld show 61 The younger 1 Survive Guthrie 5 Tannin source 62 Julia Ward — 10 Where hackles 63 Banish rise 14 Mayberry moppet 64 Nonflowering plant 15 Shrimper’s net 65 Monster’s loch 16 N. M. neighbor 66 Tosses the dice 17 “The Thin Man” 67 Rani’s servant pooch 18 Parting word 19 Dressmaker’s cut DOWN 1 Do dock work 20 In question 2 Lhasa — 22 “Jane Eyre” 3 In — (as found) novelist 4 Pekoe packets 24 Comic-strip bark (2 wds.)

25 Bone-dry 5 Workforces 26 Maxims 6 Hindi cousin 29 Emulating 7 Snail — 33 Almost chilly 8 Dazzle 34 Spanish river 9 Site for a 36 Family mem. poker game 37 Da or ja 10 Not a soul 38 Miner’s stake 39 Turkish potentate 11 Similar 40 “My Gal” of song 12 Urban map 41 Soprano Jenny — 13 Loosen 21 Long hike 42 Tapered off 23 What to let ‘er do 44 Blurred 25 Bitterly pungent 47 Incentive 26 Bottom of 48 Pick up and go the ocean?

49 Mesozoic, for one 27 Improbable wish 50 Horror-film 28 Usher’s beat menace 30 From Tabriz 53 Wide-ranging, 31 Israeli as tastes wilderness 58 Cain’s sib

© 2012 UNITED FEATURES SYNDICATE

Previous Day’s Puzzle Solved:

TODAY’S CROSSWORD SPONSORED BY:

54 Select the best 55 Priam was its king 56 Rick’s old flame 57 Blackjack 60 Outer, in combos

orn today, you are not always on the right side of every issue, and yet you stick to your guns and maintain your confidence in your position no matter what — and this can be regarded as a great strength or a considerable weakness, depending on the circumstances. You are not the kind to be overlooked or undervalued in any way.

B

You are highly individualistic, and you insist on asserting yourself in every situation; indeed, there are times in which you are sure to come on a bit too strong — but this is something you recognize in yourself, and you would rather be too aggressive than not aggressive enough.

Also born on this date are: Kim Fields, actress; Stephen Baldwin, actor; Emilio Estevez, actor; Ving Rhames, actor; Steve Winwood, singer and songwriter; George Carlin, comedian and actor; Burt Bacharach, musician and songwriter;Yogi Berra, baseball player and coach; Katharine Hepburn, actress; Florence Nightingale, nurse.

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.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — You’re more in the mood to watch the action today than to take part. Still, you will be learning a great deal with every passing moment.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — There’s little time to waste today, so you’ll want to make a strong start as early as possible. The “when” is more important than the “what.”

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — You must stop and think about how your actions will be affecting others; don’t charge ahead unmindful of those around you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Enough is enough — and you’ll know when you’ve reached that limit, which is different for everyone.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — A matter of taste must not be allowed to be transformed into a divisive issue. It’s time to let others do exactly what you enjoy doing.

care of today, you’ll be free to pursue your own private desires.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — You may be surprised to learn that you are a central figure in the affairs of another today — even though you’re not actually doing much.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — A friend or loved one is likely to supply enough to satisfy your wants and needs for the entire day. What happens early is a good sign.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — You’ll be talking about what happens today for quite some time. Not everyone will agree on the impact of the day’s events.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — You know how to spice up certain activities today to give yourself and those around you more excitement than usual.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Once you get a certain set of responsibilities taken

COPYRIGHT 2012 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.

TODAY’S HOROSCOPE SPONSORED BY:

SUNDAY, MAY 13 TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — You may not be able to be in the spotlight today after giving someone else the leading role.

You can still be content, of course.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — You may feel as though there is not enough time in the day to do everything you have on the docket. A friend offers help just in time.

COLLEGE INTUITION

RICHIE BATES BEAR ON CAMPUS

TUNG PHAM

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8

THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

ATHLETICS from page 1 completely depleted.

If something within the department didn’t change — and soon — the deficits would keep mounting; they would have risen upwards of $17 million by 2017. Officials couldn’t maintain the cost of the department’s 27 varsity sports program — the third-largest program of the 12 ACC schools.

In November, Loh faced what he called the most difficult decision he’s ever made.

He cut eight teams — men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s cross country, men’s indoor track, men’s outdoor track, men’s tennis, acrobatics and tumbling and water polo — to balance the budget.

Anderson issued a recommendation to give the teams a chance to survive. They have until June 30 to raise the funds necessary to fund their programs for the next eight years, and two senior athletic officials have aided the efforts. But with just more than a month until the deadline, only one team — men’s outdoor track — seems to have a viable chance at returning next year.

The athletics department Anderson will oversee won’t be the massive program former Director Debbie Yow built up.

It’ll likely be a 20-sport program with better funded teams, ushering in a new era for university athletics.

“For right now, yes, this is the answer,” Anderson said. “I think it’s a national problem, and in some way, shape or form, we’re going to have to

put our arms around the mounting cost of competing, and there’s going to have to be some solutions somewhere.”

A PIONEER Much of the program’s growth stemmed from Title IX requirements, which stipulate the university must provide equal athletic opportunities to women through scholarships and funding, relative to their enrollment in the student population.

In 1992, the NCAA stated the university was violating the 20-year law.

When Yow took over in August 1994, she encountered a budget debacle similar to the one Anderson inherited: The department had not generated enough revenue to pay its bills for 10 consecutive years and was incurring millions of dollars in annual deficits. She was tasked with balancing the budget while also finding a way to ensure men’s and women’s teams remained equally funded.

The men’s teams were performing poorly in ACC competition; of ficials wanted to be able to provide more scholarships to the teams to help make them more competitive. The answer, they decided, was to add more women’s teams.

A softball team, a water polo team and acrobatics and tumbling all formed under Yow’s tenure. Soon, she was overseeing 12 men’s teams and 15 women’s teams and captured 20 national championships — 17 of which were from women’s teams.

While some thought the

addition of the new teams had helped legitimize more women’s sports, others thought the university was finding the cheapest way to remain in compliance with Title IX. “It seems like they’re looking for the easiest way out, that their intent is to conform to the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit,” Donna Lopiano, the CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation, told The Washington Post in 2003. “If they had club teams that wanted varsity status, why go and manufacture one out of cheerleaders?”

But Lura Fleece, the acrobatics and tumbling coach when the team was founded in 2003, said the team’s varsity status was long overdue.

“We basically had been granted what we had been asking for for years and years and years,” Fleece said. “That was to be considered athletes.”

The university was seen as a pioneer in spearheading more competitive women’s sports. Although water polo and competitive cheer started with small amounts of funding, they eventually gained more financial support.

“In the early days, my budget was not what I needed it to be,” water polo coach Carl Salyer said, “but they were ver y understanding, and ever y year my budget grew and gave me more resources.”

Within a few years of Yow’s arrival, the department was experiencing unprecedented success. Ticket sales had skyrocketed from 2001 to 2002, and the men’s basket-

ball team captured its firstever NCAA championship in 2002. Yow’s athletics program was a new, potentially innovative model to remaining Title IX compliant.

THE CRASH The financial upswing didn’t last long.

By 2006, the department began experiencing budget shortfalls, which continued for the next five years. The university had enough in reser ves to balance its deficit until 2010, which created the illusion of a balanced budget.

In 2009, the university debuted Byrd Stadium’s Tyser Towers, a $50.8 million project boasting 63 luxur y suites and flat-screen TVs, hoping to lure alumni into buying season tickets. But as the football team’s performance on the field deteriorated — it generated nearly $2 million less revenue in 2010 compared to 2006, according to the commission’s report — officials had trouble selling the seats.

“It’s ver y hard to raise money in the aftermath of the Great Recession,” Loh said. “That’s why we didn’t sell and still haven’t sold all those wonder ful suites in Byrd Stadium.”

Slumping ticket sales, combined with the multimillion dollar investment that didn’t pay itself out, proved to be catastrophic.

A NEW MODEL The last thing Loh wanted to do was alter the future of

hundreds of student-athletes.

But he simply didn’t have another option.

“You have 75 members of a team, and they’re cr ying and you just feel awful. That’s when the weight and the burdens of office really weigh onto you,” he said. “It’s not just, ‘We’ll balance the budget.’ It’s about people’s lives, and there’s no way you can communicate that.

There’s no way you can pre-

“Everything was ‘Fear the Turle.’ All those signs have to be changed.”

ANDREW VALMON TERRAPINS TRACK AND FIELD COACH

pare for that until you’re in the job.”

Loh and Anderson never want to have to face this problem again. They didn’t want to cut the teams; they hoped alumni support combined with the help of two staff members would help keep them at this university.

For the past six months, several of the teams have struggled to come close to the millions of dollars needed to stay.

Loh and Anderson hoped it wouldn’t come to this. But they have had to turn their attention to the remaining teams and the new model they hope will prevent future crises.

“What we’re looking at now with other sports is creating endowments, so that if rough times hit again, we have a

contingency plan and a financial model that we would be able to tap into to fight off situations that we’re facing now,” Anderson said.

The department also hopes to better fund each athlete.

This university ranks last of the ACC’s 12 institutions in how much it spends per student-athlete. It spends about $67,390 per student-athlete, compared to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill — a 28-sport program— which spends about $78,430 per student.

“We could have looked at reducing all the budgets … but there had already been drastic budget cuts to the 27 programs,” Anderson said. “To reduce their budgets any more would jeopardize the competitiveness of the teams.”

Although nothing will be official before July 1, several coaches and student-athletes have come to terms with the fact that this university’s athletics will have an entirely different face in the coming weeks and years.

“The motto … has been 27-1 — 27 teams, one goal,” track and field coach Andrew Valmon said. “Everything was ‘Fear the Turtle.’ All those signs have to be changed.”

For a university that had once prided itself on providing so many new opportunities, the change won’t be easy.

“Nobody ever wants to cut sports, period,” Salyer said.

“It’s a black eye on the department, and it’s a black eye on the university. But black eyes can heal.” abutaleb@umdbk.com, lurye@umdbk.com

READ MORE ONLINE

www.diamondbackonline.com

XIE’S SGA TERM EMPHASIZED PROGRESS OVER PLACATION While forwarding his ideas often led him to clash with administrators and members of his own organization, outgoing SGA President Kaiyi Xie hopes he set the stage for campuswide change that will continue long after he leaves.

Xie said he accomplished much of what he set out to do when he ran for the Student Government Association presidency a year ago, including drastically reforming the funding process for student groups, spearheading work on a new policy to require professors to post syllabi online earlier before each semester and working with state lawmakers and university officials toward creating a university-run online voter registration system, which Xie said he hopes may be up and running in time for this year’s presidential election.

Read the rest of senior staff writer Leah Villanueva’s article online at The Diamondback.

THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

LOH from page 1 future entailed. In fact, for someone who had worked in his parents’ grocery store since sixth grade, scrubbing dishes was “liberation.”

“The last thing on my mind was a job in academia,” he said.

“In fact, if I’m thinking of any job, it’s, ‘Boy, I really don’t like washing pots and pans every night for three hours.’ That got me a free meal. One meal. And of course, I chose dinner.”

After moving on to earn a master’s from Cornell University, a doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Yale University, Loh quickly advanced in the world of academia. And now, he’s wrapping up his first full year as this university’s president — a year that, for any president, was unusually busy.

“I don’t think any president I’ve ever been aware of anywhere has had to face so many challenging issues right from day one on the job, and in some cases, a month before he even started the job,” University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan said, who has been a part of the university since 1964 and served as its president for 10 years.

Since his appointment in November 2010, Loh has led a university that aims to be more globally connected, a university that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship and works with the city of College Park.

But Loh hasn’t forgotten his roots. He empathizes with the students that worry about whether they’ll be able to continue their education for another semester as state lawmakers debate next year’s budget — a budget that could include double-digit tuition increases for students if legislators don’t pass revenue-generating measures. He remembers how unsure he once was of his own future.

“Deep down, I have this empathy for students who have to work, have to borrow money and their parents can’t afford to send them to college,” Loh said. “I know firsthand how they feel.”

Along with fighting for college affordability, Loh has faced an unusually long to-do list this year. He almost immediately had to fill 11 administrative positions — one of the highest turnovers in the university’s history. Although being tasked with undertaking a study of merging this university with the University of Maryland, Baltimore came as a “bombshell,” Loh ultimately

9

helped craft a strategic partnership with Kirwan and UMB President Jay Perman in three months. Officials have begun carrying out the initiatives laid out in the $43.7 million MPowering the State plan, including a joint public health school.

University officials were also eager to move ahead with an East Campus development — a proposed 38-acre project that could revitalize College Park by bringing a hotel, graduate student housing, a movie theater and other amenities to the area.

And Loh was faced with a crippling athletics department deficit and decided to cut eight teams to balance the department’s budget.

“In the life of an institution, there are many opportunities for weighty decisions to be made, but it appears to me this has been a particularly important year in terms of the number of those big decisions,” Vice President for Administrative Affairs Rob Specter said, who was appointed in July. “I think we took on every project with a great deal of energy, with a lot of drive, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

But Loh knows when decisions hold such high stakes, there are always people left upset or frustrated. It’s why he keeps close the lessons he’s

In his first 18 months, University President Wallace Loh faced one of the highest administrative turnovers in the university’s history, filling 11 different positions. FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK

learned from studying former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his handling of the Vietnam War. “Basically, [Johnson] surrounded himself with people who all had the same perspective. That was a fundamental flaw,” Loh said. “What I try to do on every issue, I try to hear

as many voices as possible. If there’s an issue and everyone on my cabinet agrees, I suspect something’s wrong because there has to be an opposing view. They’re just not in the room.”

This year hasn’t been easy for Loh. He’s had more on-thejob training than he thought

possible, but it’s just prepared him more for what lies ahead.

“I have learned so much in my 18 months here. I am a different person than when I came in.”

Senior staff writer Rebecca Lurye contributed to this report. abutaleb@umdbk.com

Res Life simplifies housing violation policy, adds flexibility Officials say new system will make it easier to sanction students who violate dorm rules on case-by-case basis

BY FOLA AKINNIBI Staff writer

University officials are revising the Resident Life Department’s Rights and Responsibilities Handbook to address concerns the 20-yearold guidelines create confusion for students.

While the existing rules themselves would not change, officials plan to shrink the list of 44 rules to a more concise set of 25 in time for the fall. Under the existing system, dorm room violations are split into two categories, with “A” offenses consid-

ered more serious than “B” offenses. Officials plan to eliminate the “A” and “B” distinction and create a single list.

“The big issue right off the bat is confusion,” Resident Life Associate Director Steve Petkas said. “Am I being charged with an ‘A’ or a ‘B’, and why?”

The revisions would also allow Resident Life officials more flexibility to distribute punishments for violations on a case-by-case basis, Petkas said.

“Individual circumstances are taken into account,” he said. “I think the rules lend themselves

to a more flexible way of thinking about sanctions.”

Resident Life officials enlisted the Residence Hall Association for student input on the rules, and the members voted unanimously in favor of the revisions two weeks ago. “[The change will] streamline the process so that students will not be confused,” RHA Senator Mike Lichtenberg said.

The change has been about 10 years in the making, Petkas said, noting officials developed the original set of rules during the 1980s in

response to a number of incidents in which student residents threw objects out the windows of their dorms.

Under the “fatal five,” as Petkas called them, students would be expelled from housing for throwing something out the window, pulling a fire alarm with no fire, getting into a fight, being caught with drugs or participating in serious harassment.

However, when applied to today’s more subdued students, Petkas said the rules cause anxiety, with some becoming overwhelmed and calling lawyers when faced with sanctions.

“I think that ‘A’ and ‘B’ structures served us well, but they were written at a time when the place was a damned zoo,” he said.

Sophomore finance major Ramy, who spoke about his university sanction on the condition of anonymity, said he agreed there should be more room for leniency. He said he was caught in possession of illegal drugs in his dorm room last semester. He was frustrated that although he tried to explain to officials that he understood his mistake, they ultimately removed him from housing, he said.

“Anything I said didn’t mat-

ter,” he said. “They should have taken into account my circumstances.”

After the revisions have been finalized, Petkas said his next task will be spreading the word to students.

Several students said they were not very familiar with the current rules and hoped they would be briefed on the revisions.

“I know that [the rules] exist, and I’m familiar with how we should behave,” sophomore psychology major Max Hyman said. “I’ve never really paid much heed to the [Rights and Responsibilities Handbook].” akinnibi@umdbk.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

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FACEOFF | TRAILERS FOR TRAILERS

HYPING UP THE HYPE Movies’ marketing campaigns now include ads for ads. Is this going too far?

BY WARREN ZHANG Senior staff writer

Arguing against movie trailer trailers is a quintessential “first world problem.”

After all, it is still possible to simply ignore the content if one so chooses, at least until the MPAA starts installing neural implants.

But reasoning this way, much like applying this arg u ment

PHOTO COURTESY OF SCIFIMAFIA.COM

to bad movies, is a fundamentally half-assed way of thinking. The fact that movie studios, which are already overinflating budgets for tasteless 3-D post-conversion bling and massive Super Bowl ad blitzes, feel it prudent to blow more money down this hole is troubling.

It’s concerning not only because it suggests a massive lack of creativity and oversight in movie marketing campaigns, but because it’s a manufactured form of cultural deterioration.

In other words, the end game for all those Prometheus teases seems to be about turning anticipation for a movie into anticipation for anticipation for a movie.

Watch those l i t t l e

Prometheus trailer teases — their raison d’etre isn’t to advertise for Prometheus but to ramp up enthusiasm for the trailer release. The whole campaign, in general, just does a terrible job of convincing someone who doesn’t know the pedigree associated with the movie to go watch it. Why would anyone be convinced to fork over $15 because of a bunch of talking heads and an incoherent mishmash of footage?

These teases aren’t targeted at the regular Joe, i.e., the type of person who hasn’t already pre-committed to watching the movie, but at the folks who spend their days actively following Prometheus, the guys who have probably already purchased midnight opening day tickets.

The whole paradigm is simply asinine — studios blow money converting the converted into a pack of drooling, low attention span dogs, trained to barf regurgitated movie marketing materials on social networking sites instead of contributing to society. As if movie journalism needed any less legitimacy.

The worst part of the whole system is that there’s no good way of measuring the efficacy of such an advertising strategy. So, thanks to Prometheus, we’ve got similar campaigns sprouting up for more movies including, most puzzlingly, Rian Johnson’s mid-budgeted Looper.

This kind of blind, idiotic marketing logic needs to stop. TV spots, trailers and clips are already bad enough, but, at the very least, there’s an art to making a good trailer, and the trailers exist to sell a movie.

Trailers for trailers exist to sell a goddamned piece of advertising. Please, this is too much. #firstworldproblems. chzhang@umdbk.com

BY ZACHARY BERMAN Senior staff writer

It’s as simple as this: As society and media evolve, so must advertising. In the past few months, more and more movie studios have started the annoyingly brilliant trend of releasing commercials for upcoming movie trailers to keep up with the media evolution.

That’s right. A trailer for a trailer — and we’re not talking teasers.

Film trailers are a sacred Hollywood institution. Fans jitter with excitement to see that very first frame of their favorite comic book hero come to life, or whatever the case may be. Hell, there are plenty of instances where trailers are more exciting than the films themselves. I’m looking at you, Clash of the Titans remake, Avatar and basically anything else Sam Worthington (Wrath of the Titans) stars in.

Until the Internet came along, the only place to see a full trailer in all its majesty was at a movie theater to see another movie, hoping you might glimpse two and a half minutes of the summer blockbuster you were truly excited for.

Times have changed, though. Match our ADD generation with a constantly growing information superhighway and the problem makes itself clear — a single trailer for a film just can’t hold people’s attention for long.

The answer to this dilemma is as old as advertising itself. Are there not enough people talking about the new Joseph GordonLevitt (50/50) versus time-trav-

eling Bruce Willis (The Cold Light of Day) extravaganza, Looper? Well then it just needs some more exposure.

Not so long ago, “more exposure” would have amounted to a few more billboards around town. Nowadays, people need new content to stay interested — in some cases, whole bonus DVDs worth of content.

Looper’s first trailer featured Gordon-Levitt and director Rian Johnson (The Brothers Bloom) talking about how great the real trailer was going to be, with plenty of concept art and other goodies leaked along the way.

Fans following the production of the new James Bond film, Skyfall, or Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit will have noticed a plentiful grab-bag of featurettes and interviews with cast members released directly from the set, begging viewers to get excited for the release of an official trailer.

All of this, of course, is just to build up buzz among viewers.

This trend is still in its infancy, so there have been some missteps, such as the completely pointless 12-second online commercial announcing the upcoming trailer for this year’s Total Recall remake. But for the most part, the rush of extra material seems to be working.

Of course, it’s totally within a consumer’s rights to not watch all these extra commercials, trailers and featurettes. For the moment, the Internet still has freedom of choice – if you don’t like the idea of a trailer for a trailer, just don’t watch it. berman@umdbk.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

REVIEW | DARK SHADOWS

PAINT IT BLACK Dark Shadows is charming, if not up to Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s usual standards

BY WARREN ZHANG Senior staff writer

Director Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland) has established himself as a singular artist. His films are instantly identifiable by his trademark directorial flourishes and gothic visuals to the point that a new Burton movie is likely to elicit immediate cheers from fans and reflexive jeers from the folks who have grown tired of his aesthetic.

Dark Shadows, needless to say, is a Burton movie. It, of course, stars Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary), here playing a centuries-old vampire, cursed by a spurned witch (Eva Green, Perfect Sense) and awoken by a bumbling

group of construction workers circa 1972.

Depp emerges from his slumber to find his family name in ruins, partially because of the witch’s curse and partially because… well, it’s the ’70s. Vampire Depp then works to restore the family honor through strategic business moves and hypnosis.

That pretty much comprises the entirety of the movie. Dark Shadows’ most obvious weakness is its story, which somehow manages to go nowhere in the most impenetrable way possible.

The third act, in particular, is totally bonkers, as established characters pull hitherto unknown superpowers out of their posteriors without so

much batting an eye. The film’s strengths lie, instead, in the script’s sense of humor and Burton’s considerable abilities as a director.

The jokes, though they tend to be about the same two or three things, are very funny — a bloody gag involving a stoned group of hippies being the highlight — and the cast is very game.

Chloë Grace Mortez, so stiff in Hugo, is fantastic as the sultry, pouting teenager, while Green has a lot of fun mugging about.

Depp gives a characteristically mannered performance that, while fine, doesn’t quite measure up to his finest work. The issue is most likely due to the script.

Johnny Depp plays a vampire who’s forced to deal with witches, curses and probably disco when he wakes to find himself in the 1970s in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows . PHOTO COURTESY OF BESTMOVIESEVERNEWS.COM

While Depp’s character is given a lot of emotional range, the abrupt tonal shifts between horror and comedy undermine his character’s believability.

Depp goes so far as to explicitly tell us that he’s neither a good guy nor a bad guy, and the movie around him is terrified of making him too good or too evil a character. The result is a pro-

tagonist who, despite moments of pathos, is rather underwhelming as a whole.

The same could be said of the entire movie. Burton’s stellar eye for gothic, CG-aided backdrops is as sharp as ever, but Dark Shadows can’t help but feel derivative of the director’s other work.

It’s an agreeable enough movie. It’s got humor, heart and a magnificent cast. At the

same time, it’s also a disappointing reminder that Burton hasn’t really tried to grow as a filmmaker in recent years. The script, the setting and the cheap potshots are all so beneath the man who gave us Beetlejuice and Big Fish that you can’t help but feel a little saddened by its mere adequacy. chzhang@umdbk.com

LASTING IMPACT | THE EVENING DESCENDS

NIGHTFALL

BY REESE HIGGINS Senior staff writer

The Evening Descends is immediately recognizable as something bizarre and otherworldly. The 2008 album by the Norman, Okla. band Evangelicals is a complete trip. I continue to be blown away by this record. The first 30 listens in particular were stunning — I couldn’t wrap my head around all of the outthere sounds and wild effects.

It’s an extremely overlooked album of perfect,

beautiful pop. With each track, I’m transported to a distinct emotional state. The album’s incredibly powerful single, “Midnight Vignette,” sounds exactly like nighttime, heartbreak and confusion. When listening to this track, I am instantly filled with these feelings and can vividly remember the first time I listened to the record.

Even as I write this at 9 a.m. on my last day as an undergraduate student, with the sun shining through the window blinds, it’s just after

midnight in my brain and my stunned, hopeless university freshman-self comes to mind. When I first started listening to this album, I would stay up far later than most sane individuals and engross myself in the far-gone world of The Evening Descends.

This is one of those LPs that demands immediate and numerous repeat listens.

For me, The Evening Descends captures the excitement, depression, challenges, elations and bewilderment of freshman year in sound. Alongside the overthe-top aggression of Future of the Left’s Curses, there was no better soundtrack for my

first semester all-nighters, and The Evening Descends still cuts to my core, even when the sun is up.

This record is the sound of strange. It’s not that the album is the weirdest, most difficult thing you’ll ever hear — it’s actually quite a welcome listen — it’s that the collages of sounds Evangelicals is able to create are, simply put, mind-blowing.

Whether it’s the cartooncrash effect bumping into minor chord strumming, or what sounds like the screams of hell’s residents backing an achingly beautiful ode to f---ed-up love, Evangelicals achieve a world of

PHOTO COURTESY JONNYLEATHER.COM

sound like nothing else.

In fact, singer-songwriter Josh Jones may have been singing about my relationship with the album on

“Skeleton Man”: “When someone loves you very much, you’re f---ed.” rhiggins@umdbk.com

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SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

13

The University Senate Executive Committee assigned members to study a proposal that would extend the Good Samaritan policy to include drug overdoses. FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK

POLICY from page 1 drugs, submitted by undergraduate senator Brandon Levey last semester, has met some opposition, state Attorney General

Doug Gansler ruled broadening the Good Samaritan policy would be legal because it only protects students from university discipline, not criminal charges.

University President Wallace Loh said he hopes the topic of student safety would

be “paramount” in the senate committee’s discussions of the proposal.

“Just like the Good Samaritan policy in regard to alcohol, my overriding concern is student safety,” Loh said. “Lots of people are going to be work-

ing very hard on this. Let’s face it, there’s not 100 percent support; there’s never 100 percent support on anything for any issue.”

Levey is now readying himself for a long wait — before the senate approved Good Samaritan last spring, its proposal spent four years on the desks of senate members as they debated its advantages and disadvantages.

However, several students and officials said they believe the university community will throw support behind an extended policy.

“I think the administration and everyone is realizing it has been a positive impact, and I think we’re close to expanding the policy to include all substances,” Levey said.

Martone added that while there would be plenty of details to work through, such as whether students would face lesser sanctions or none at all, she approves of the drug amnesty policy’s goals.

“We never want a student to die from overdose of alcohol or

drugs, so if adding drugs to the Responsible Action Protocol would help students, I think it would be a good thing,” she said.

Undergraduate student senator Crystal Varkalis, who serves on the Student Conduct Committee, said many committee members support Levey’s proposal.

“When we’ve discussed it, it hasn’t been a matter of if we pass it; it’s a matter of changing the language so everyone is happy with the wording,” said Varkalis, who lost a friend to a drug overdose in 2008 and has advocated for a comprehensive Good Samaritan policy for the past two years.

During an informal poll of the committee, no senators voiced opposition, Levey added.

Levey said during the Student Government Association elections last month, Stu-

dents for Sensible Drug Policy rallied support for a ballot referendum calling for a drug amnesty policy. Students voted in favor of the referendum, 74 percent to 9 percent, with 17 percent abstaining.

“That’s a majority, and that’s all we should ever need for changing campus policy, is a majority of the student voice,” Varkalis, a former SSDP vice president, said.

Varkalis added that if even one student would be more inclined to call for help because of the Good Samaritan policy, it is important to have it in place.

“It’s a preventative measure. Obviously we want to do this before somebody has to even hesitate or think about calling for help,” she said. kirkwood@umdbk.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

Fighting for everyone’s right to an education Student’s movement lobbies for DREAM Act

BY QUINN KELLEY Staff writer

Lucy, his Jack Russell terrier, was barking. His mom was crying. His dad was crying.

Jorge Steven Acuña’s dad came into his room as Acuña was just waking up to get ready for school. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” his dad said, failing to hold back tears.

There were 11 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials outside, waiting to take them all away. His dad was under arrest, and police told Acuña they needed to fingerprint him and his mom, promising they would be back home that night.

Acuña quickly Googled what was happening and learned he and his family were about to be detained.

He didn’t explain to his mom — he didn’t want to scare her.

That Wednesday two months ago, everything changed. It was also the start of a movement he could have never predicted.

Acuña, 19, is a Montgomery College student who lives in Germantown. A life sciences major, he hopes to transfer to this university to study chemical engineering and eventually medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

He and his parents are undocumented immigrants.

Acuña’s parents left their home in Bogota when he was 8 years old in order to escape the armed revolutionary forces in Colombia — revolutionaries who shot at Acuña’s house when he was young, he said. His parents told him they were going on vacation to America. And for a while, it was a vacation. They went to the beach and visited New York. They only brought

their clothes. But soon after, they told Acuña the family wasn’t going back to Colombia, and he was more than OK with having a new home, he said.

“I kind of fell in love with the country,” Acuña said.

The family settled in Germantown, where Acuña attended public schools and grew up playing soccer, volleyball and swimming and diving, as well as acting in plays at his church. Most of the family’s friends and neighbors didn’t know they were undocumented immigrants, but Acuña said he never faced hostility or discrimination because of his race or national origin.

In 2005, after receiving driver’s licenses and Social Security cards, Acuña said the family filed for political asylum, reasoning they left Colombia fearing for their safety. However, the family’s lawyer was taken off the case, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement served them deportation orders.

Acuña said his family appealed the orders and traveled to Miami every other weekend to consult lawyers more experienced in immigration policy, to no avail. In March, they received the final deportation notice.

Acuña said he tried to distract himself with schoolwork as his 18th birthday, and the threat of deportation, loomed closer.

“I lived a pretty normal life,” he said. “I just never really felt like it was going to happen.”

But on that Wednesday morning, reality caught up with him.

The Acuñas were held in a prison on the Eastern Shore for six days, four of which Acuña and his father spent in a maximumsecurity cell together.

“It was just like, ‘Why? Why are you doing this?’” Acuña said.

“It was scary. It’s prison.”

Acuña said his friends came

to visit the first night he was there. They were all crying and told him they would sell his things so he and his family

“We just want the right to have an education.”

JORGE STEVEN ACUÑA MONTGOMERY COLLEGE STUDENT

would have some money when they returned to Colombia.

“I kind of didn’t see any hope in them,” Acuña said. “I was kind of ready to just leave, too, because I thought I didn’t have any hope.”

However, they turned around quickly. When a friend visited that Saturday, he told Acuña, “We’re starting something big. I don’t want you to get excited, but it’s big.”

Acuña said he thought “something big” was probably a Facebook page.

Three days later, Acuña and his family were out of prison.

Acuña said his friends brought documents to prison for him to sign and got him legal support from CASA de Maryland, a nonprofit organization that fights for immigrant rights.

But what started as a family affair quickly became a movement for student rights and youth political activism, called Justice for Students in America — a convenient acronym matching Acuña’s initials.

Within a few days, his friends garnered thousands of signatures on a petition for his release and a 500-person rally greeted Acuña’s family in Rockville the day after their release, he said.

Jorge Steven Acuña, who received his final deportation notice in March, launched a movement to protect undocumented immigrants’ educational opportunities. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

“JSA really was a grassroots community movement which began with a reason, which was when Jorge and his family were taken, the community felt the loss of one of their members,” said Rommel Sandino, CASA de Maryland’s youth organizer. “In this case, it really was a community that was in support and backing this family.”

Acuña said once he was home, he was ready to stand up for students’ rights, no matter their documentation.

“We just want the right to have an education,” he said.

Sebastian Roa, Acuña’s cousin and a sophomore communication and government and politics major at this university, said JSA aims to empower youth to engage in politics and support causes such as the DREAM Act, which would provide undocumented students with in-state tuition if they met certain criteria, including completing 60 credits at a community college.

“We think that by getting the youth in politics … we can pressure politicians to pay attention to educational issues,” Roa said.

However, after successfully leading a petition drive to put the DREAM Act on the referendum, state Del. Patrick McDonough (R-Baltimore and Harford) said he is confident voters will overturn the act in November’s election.

“It’s not really a DREAM Act — it’s a state-financed benefit for people who are here illegally,” McDonough said. “I think they all should be deported as soon as possible because that’s what the law is … I don’t see any reason why they should get an exception from the law.”

Upon their release from prison, Acuña and his parents were granted a one-year reprieve during which they are safe from deportation. Acuña

said he does not know what will happen next, and he does not want to apply to this university until he knows his plans.

In the meantime, he and his friends are lobbying in Annapolis and registering students to vote. Roa plans to launch a university chapter of JSA, and the group is working to register as a state nonprofit. But for Acuña, the next 300-some days will keep counting down.

They’ll likely be filled with more events and engagements, like when he spoke in front of the U.S. Supreme Court a few weeks ago, or when he was invited to the Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House (but didn’t go). While they might provide a distraction, nothing will give him certainty.

“He’s an American at heart,” Roa said, “but on paper, he’s not.” kelley@umdbk.com

SPORTS

DIPPER from page 17

Goalie Brittany Dipper has 132 saves this season. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

ultimately ended the glorious ride.

The Wildcats bested the Terps in a low-scoring, stall-ball match concluding with an 8-7 score.

And as bad as losing a shot at a second straight title was, the loss of three seniors on defense stung even more. The Terps were forced to hope members of the nation’s top recruiting class could become key cogs in the team’s game plan.

Dipper, as a veteran presence on an other wise youthful backline, was charged with helping make that a reality.

“I just had to make sure they

were confident and that they felt they belonged out there,” Dipper said, “and can compete with anyone in the nation.”

They’ve done just that. With four freshman regularly starting, the Terps’ defense has proven more effective than its more touted offense. The team ranks third nationally in scoring defense, while the scoring offense ranks sixth.

“She’s been our anchor back there defensively … she is a very mentally strong, champion athlete,” Reese said. “She’s taken our team to three Final Fours and one national championship as the starting goalkeeper. That’s a pretty amazing resumé.”

“She is a very mentally strong, champion athlete.”

CATHY REESE TERRAPINS WOMEN’S LACROSSE COACH

But Dipper wants to add a little something extra to that resumé in her final NCAA Tournament, which is set to begin this afternoon against Massachusetts.

“It would be a disappointment if we didn’t win it all this year,” Dipper said. “We just want to get back there and show that we can do it again.” munson@umdbk.com

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

CHANENCHUK

THE RETURN

from page 19

many options, he felt particularly drawn to two programs: the Terps and Princeton. He knew then-Terps coach Dave Cottle from attending his summer camps as a kid, and loved visiting his aunt’s beach house at Ocean City at least once every year. Maryland felt comfortable; it felt like home.

But ultimately, the allure of a Princeton degree proved too enticing, and Chanenchuk committed to legendary coach Bill Tierney and the Tigers in November of 2007.

“I remember when he made his decision, Cottle said, ‘Look, a diploma from Princeton is hard to pass up,’” the elder Chanenchuk said. “I’m not going to blame you.”

Chanenchuk would hardly get to sample Princeton’s academic rigors, however.

During the Tigers’ first couple of official practices in early February 2009, his back started to ache after repeatedly falling on their field’s astroturf. Then, while practicing his shot a couple days later, he heard the sound every athlete dreads: a crack. Unable to run at his typical game speed, Tierney took him in for an MRI and an X-ray.

The tests confirmed Chanenchuck’s worst fears. He had a stress fracture in the lower part of his vertebrae, a diagnosis that requires substantial rest to heal.

And that forced him to make a difficult decision. Ivy League guidelines stipulate that enrolled players who don’t play automatically lose a year of eligibility. So with the regular season about to start, Chanenchuk had two choices: Stay in school and lose that eligibility, or take 12 months off from the university and keep it.

After sitting down with Tierney’s staff and his parents, he decided to take a year off and return to Princeton in spring 2010. He was committed to playing at the highest level as long as possible.

“Michael was one of the best recruits we ever got,” said Tierney, who took over at Denver in June 2009 and never got the chance to coach Chanenchuk in games. “He was such a great person, so bright and hard-working.

I’ve always wished we could’ve spent more time together.”

Unable to suit up for the Tigers, Chanenchuk headed back home to Poquott — a close-knit suburban community on the North Shore of Long Island.

He did his best to keep busy.

He worked out with a personal trainer regularly, took a couple classes at nearby Stony Brook University and assisted his dad — the junior varsity coach at St. Anthony’s, and the owner of one of the country’s most renowned club teams, the Long Island Express.

But after months spent at home, the tedium set in. With most of his closest friends working through their teams’ respective schedules, he grew restless. He pined for lacrosse, for the thrill of competition.

“It was kind of difficult to watch the [Princeton] games,” Chanenchuk said. “But I had to set a plan so I knew I was going to get back there, so I guess it wasn’t too depressing.”

When the time finally arrived for him to return to Princeton, he was ready to go.

Chanenchuk scored on the first possession of his college career, racing down the alley to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead in an eventual 17-14 win over Hofstra in their 2010 season opener.

It was a fitting start to a record-breaking campaign. Chanenchuk finished third on the team with 36 points, helping Princeton to an Ivy League title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. He also set the program’s all-time freshman scoring record with 28 goals en route to a USILA All-American second team and a unanimous selection to the All-Ivy League first team.

“When healthy, Michael can play,” the elder Chanenchuk said. “When healthy, he’s very good. But we’ve just got to keep him in one piece.”

RIPPED AWAY Everything seemed to finally be going right for Chanenchuk.

After a year away from the game, he was producing at an elite level. He was in a system he felt comfortable with, in a program he’d grown to love. He was becoming the player he had envisioned for himself as a young kid playing toss with his

15

father in Long Island.

And then, in what seemed a cruel twist of fate, it was all taken away from him in the blink of an eye.

The extensive training sessions in Long Island, the dozens of bonds built since his return just a few months earlier, the dream of leading Princeton to its seventh national title. All gone. And for what? A late hit in a scrimmage.

“Within 10 seconds, I go from the high of watching [Michael] score a goal and the pride that he’s playing with such confidence,” the elder Chanenchuk said, “to having him being taken off the field. I had a pit in my stomach.”

Minutes after the injury, Chanenchuk accompanied his parents to a local hospital, where he was given medicine to alleviate the pain. The family drove back to Episcopal and Chanenchuk boarded the team bus back to Princeton.

A team doctor evaluated him when he returned to New Jersey, and deemed the collarbone break severe enough to warrant surgery. Two days later, he was in an operating room, having a plate inserted into to his shoulder to help the bone heal.

But the medical procedure was hardly Chanenchuk’s only concern at this point. Princeton has a rule stating that if a student misses 10 days of school, he is required to drop out for a year.

It also has a guideline stating that student-athletes cannot take more than five years to complete their four years of eligibility. After missing the 2009 season with the back injury, Chanenchuk was already on track for a fifth year. Missing another season would’ve meant he couldn’t play the full four.

So for the second time in two and a half years, he evaluated his situation with his parents and the Tigers’ coaching staff.

And for the second time in two and a half years, he decided to take a medical hardship and leave Princeton.

This time, however, he wasn’t coming back.

“My options really to stay in school were limited,” Chanenchuk said. “Going home, going forward, I knew that I’d been [at Princeton] for three years, two semesters of school.

So I decided that I kind of needed

a fresh change, a new start.”

ANOTHER SETBACK WHERE HE SHOULD BE He knew exactly where he wanted to begin anew.

Ever since he chose Princeton over the Terps as a high school junior, Chanenchuk had always wondered what it would’ve been like play in College Park. He appreciated the state and understood its love for lacrosse. He also felt comfortable with the coaching staff.

Assistant coach Ryan Moran’s father was a business partner of his dad’s, and coach John Tillman helped run some summer camps he attended growing up.

So soon after Chanenchuk gained his official release from Princeton, he contacted Tillman and told him he wanted to become a Terp.

It didn’t take long for the second-year coach to iron out a plan with the former All-American. For the university to approve Chanenchuk’s admission, he needed to have a junior academic standing — a benchmark his spate of injuries had made impossible to achieve. He needed to earn his associate’s degree from a local community college in the fall, allowing him to enroll in College Park for the spring semester.

So when Chanenchuk returned home last spring, he didn’t feel the same tedium he had experienced two years earlier. He was focused and determined, committed to working his body in top shape and getting solid grades. He took a full courseload the past two semesters at Nassau Community College, earning a 4.0 GPA in the fall.

To satisfy his lacrosse fix, he volunteered as an assistant freshman team coach at St. Anthony’s.

He ran the Friars’ offense, a task he said helped strengthen his interest in one day pursuing a career in coaching.

“He did an unbelievable job with those kids,” said Keith Wieczorek, the head coach of St. Anthony’s varsity men’s lacrosse team. “It’s clear that he’s the son of a coach. He really has a way with developing young lacrosse players.”

Chanenchuk’s stay at home wasn’t all positive, however.

Just a few weeks before his planned arrival in College Park in January, his knees buckled during an indoor lacrosse tournament in his hometown. He heard an odd click noise and immediately went to get an MRI. Chanenchuk had a torn meniscus, sidelining him for four to six weeks. That meant he wouldn’t be able to train with the team until the final days of preseason play.

For a player who’d spent his entire year preparing for a fresh start with the Terps, it was a crushing blow. He’d been anticipating this moment — starting a new chapter, one devoid of injuries or setbacks — for 12 months. And during a fluke accident, he was forced to regroup once again.

“I’d be lying if deep down, I didn’t tell you that it hurt me to hear about that injury,” Tillman said. “To see everything he’s gone through emotionally to get to the point to come here, and how excited and ready he was, and then for that to happen to him, it really bothered me.”

But Chanenchuk took the news in stride and started his Terps career with an open mind.

“You know I think maybe I’ve had a little bit of experience, kind of some adversity,” Chanenchuk said. “And just staying positive, I think maybe I can help out some younger guys, things like that. So obviously it was a learning situation. But I know that if I just stay hard working, it’s going to work out.”

FINALLY BACK Chanenchuk has carried that outlook with him throughout his first season with the Terps.

When he arrived in College Park in late January, it seemed everyone with a pen had high hopes for the former Princeton star. He was listed as honorable mention preseason All-American three weeks before he even joined the team, and was expected to help shoulder the

burden left by departures of former attackmen Travis Reed, Grant Catalino and Ryan Young — a group that provided nearly a third of the team’s offensive production last season.

What the prognosticators didn’t realize, however, was the redshirt sophomore was hardly the same player who recorded one of the best freshman campaigns in Ivy League history.

He was still recovering from the torn meniscus and was battling nagging back pains. Not to mention, he’d been out of lacrosse for a year. He still needed to re-acclimate himself to the rigors of the sport’s highest stage.

“Not only did he come in midyear, but he came in midyear and couldn’t practice,” Tillman said. “So he was way behind.”

And for much of the season, it showed. After tallying six goals through six games, Chanenchuk went silent for four games. As of late April, he was shooting about 13 percent from the field — by far the worst mark among the Terps’ offensive starters.

Hungry to improve, he started taking extra time before and after practices to perfect his shot. He worked closely with Tillman on adjusting his approach. He altered his levels, the angle he takes on his shot — not simple alterations for a player who’s grown accustomed to shooting the same way his entire life.

They’ve seemed to work, as Chanenchuk has notched at least one goal in each of the Terps’ past four games.

“I think the biggest thing is I feel like I’m getting a lot healthier,” he said. “I feel good, my legs feel good. I’m getting some good shooting and things like that in practice, which started carrying over to the games.”

But it’s not Chanenchuk’s shooting that’s left an impact on Tillman this season. It’s not even his commitment to selfimprovement.

It’s his fight.

“Part of what we have to teach is life’s not fair,” Tillman said. “People who are successful, they don’t quit. You have to emphasize that you have to be strong and get through the tough stuff because if you don’t, you won’t be who you have the potential to become.

[Chanenchuk] is an example of a guy who doesn’t quit.” letourneau@umdbk.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | SPORTS | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

SOFTBALL

Running the show Knight taking charge of Terps’ postseason hopes

BY JASON BENSCHER Staff writer

The Terrapins softball team returned from Atlanta in early April with its season on the brink. The Terps sat at 20-17 after a sweep at the hands of Georgia Tech, without a conference win in six tries. After a hot start to the season, morale had hit rock bottom. Only a month remained of a season in limbo.

That’s when Kendra Knight made her decision. The senior pitcher approached coach Laura Watten with her plan to pull the Terps out of the ACC’s cellar.

Knight told Watten that for the team to win, she needed the ball in her hand during every remaining game.

It was the season’s seminal moment.

“I’ve always been like that,” Knight said. “I hate people pitching ahead of me. I always want to be number one.”

Watten agreed to her ace’s proposal, and the Terps haven’t looked back. They have gone 14-2 since, including a season-closing series win over No. 19 Florida State that catapulted them up to No. 48 in the RPI rankings.

Before Knight took sole ownership of the circle, Watten’s team was in seventh in the eightteam ACC. Now it has a strong chance of earning an NCAA Tournament berth, even though the No. 5 seed Terps fell, 5-2, to No. 4 seed Virginia Tech in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Thursday night.

That rapid turnaround is largely due to Knight’s excellence.

“It’s not just her in the circle, it’s her being in the circle in this good place,” Watten said.

“Even when calls don’t go her

way, she rebounds and refocuses. That’s what’s good to see. It’s not just her, it’s how she works through things and controls things.”

Knight, who finished the regular season tied for second in the ACC and seventh in the nation with 27 wins, has been the only Terp to pitch more than one total inning since that April loss to the Yellow Jackets.

This is not a new trend. Knight said she threw every inning played during her high school career, and she insists she was never tired, just as she does now.

“I’ll see her limping around sometimes, but that doesn’t stop her,” first baseman Candice Beards said. “She wants to come out and pitch.”

That stubbornness in the circle comes from a competitive drive that fuels much of what Knight does on and off the field.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing Clue as a family, or we’re playing charades,” said Kendra’s mother, Romina Knight. “She just always wants to win.”

Even though the senior pitcher is one of the more soft-spoken members of the Terps — her mother describes her as “really shy and kind of timid” — she has a quiet confidence. That, along with considerable talent, has led to the apex of her Terps career.

“When you’re a senior, you have so much fire,” Beards said. “No one’s going to stop her but herself.”

Perhaps that’s what’s propelling her to throw every inning left on the schedule: Any start could conceivably be her last as a Terp.

“She knows that her softball career is coming to an end,” Romina Knight said. “She had set

Pitcher Kendra Knight has been in the circle nearly every inning of the Terps’ last 17 games.

FILE PHOTO/THE DIAMONDBACK

255

2.50

27

292

Innings pitched this season, 176 more than any other pitcher on the team

Earned run average this season, which ranks seventh in the ACC

Wins so far this season, tied for the seventh-best mark in the country

Strikeouts so far this season, which ranks eighth in the nation

goals for herself this year, things she wanted to accomplish. When they hit that rough patch during the season where they weren’t winning games too much, she got down on herself. She decided that, ‘I’m the only one that can do something about how the rest of my season goes.’ ” The younger Knight readily acknowledges that reality.

During their dramatic, comefrom-behind win last Sunday against Florida State, Knight held back tears as she sat with fellow senior Vangie Galindo during a late Terps rally.

“In between innings in the dugout it kind of creeps up on me,” Knight said. “But my focus is the game. If we continue to win, it won’t have to be my last game for a little while.”

On Thursday, though, the Terps couldn’t keep their hot streak alive. After winning eight of its last nine games, the team fell in the first round of the conference tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C. Knight allowed five runs in the seventh inning — four on a grand slam from Hokies right fielder Kat Banks — placing her hopes of continuing her career solely on an NCAA Tournament berth.

That’s the mentality that has kept her in the circle at every possible moment. Watten said she routinely checks in with her ace to gauge how healthy she feels and get an honest answer as to whether she needs to come out of the game.

“I leave the decision up to her,” Watten said. “She’s done

well with communicating when she’s feeling it and when she’s not, and when her pitches are moving and when they’re not.

It’s all about empowering her to be able to stay in as long as she really wants to.”

Luckily for the Terps, she hasn’t needed to often. The last two times Knight left a game during the last month, the relief pitchers have allowed a combined nine baserunners, five runs while recording just eight outs.

But even Knight has her moments of imperfection. In last Saturday’s 4-1 win over Florida State, she handed out five walks — taking issue with each one. An icy stare toward home plate put the umpiring crew on notice that she wasn’t happy.

“I get fired up sometimes on the mound. I don’t think I stay composed all the time,” she said. “Growing up, you’re taught, as a pitcher, that everybody feeds off of you. You can’t get too upset, you have to keep it together and stay level-headed.”

Knight’s occasional displays of emotion come from “her comfort zones,” according to Watten. When she feels at ease, her coach said, she becomes more vocal. These days, there’s nowhere she’s more comfortable than the circle.

And the Terps are just fine with that.

“She’s got the keys,” Watten said. “She’s running it, and I’m letting her.” benscher@umdbk.com

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SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

BAKICH from page 18 High School, catcher Alex Ramsay, received a similar phone call from Bakich. Eventually, Bakich had secured commitments from two of the top players in Maryland.

“The enthusiasm for what he wanted the program to be and how he wanted me to be a part of it and big part of it, I thought it was a great thing,” Convissar said. “It’s close to home. It’s a great school. Everything seemed to work out well, so I went along with it.”

Bakich said he’s always looking for athletes who can play multiple positions — Convissar was a high school shortstop who converted to second base — but he’s also targeting more than just skills on the field. He wants to see a commitment in academics, too, and Convissar is on the ballot for the 2012 Academic All-America Team.

“You have to have guys that take pride in the classroom,” Bakich said. “You have to have guys that are strong workers. You have to have guys that are great character kids, guys of great character and great makeup.”

PLUGGING HOLES A large portion of Bakich’s vaunted 2010 recruiting class came from junior college transfers, including second baseman Ryan Holland and first baseman Tomo Delp. Mixed in with young players such as Convissar and Ramsay, the transfers provided both new blood and experience simultaneously.

“I went to junior college,” Bakich said. “It was the best thing I could have done. To me, a junior college player is a hole filler. You don’t recruit junior college players to provide depth, you recruit junior college players because you have a need.”

Holland and Delp have both made impacts as transfer players — Holland batted .282 last season and had a team-high 30 RBI, and Delp’s ability to play multiple positions has been valuable to this season’s oft-injured team.

But even though junior college transfers enter into the program already experienced in the college game, they don’t provide longevity. With only two years of eligibility remain-

17

important thing is his genuine passion for kids and that comes out all the time. That’s why he’s going to be successful.”

ing by the time they step on the campus, Bakich doesn’t want to lean on that pipeline too much.

Instead, he plans on continuing down the path he started on.

“We’ll always probably have to get a few, but it’ll be majority high school players,” Bakich said. “I don’t personally ... want to have a revolving door program where every two years you’re rotating out players.”

THE FUTURE The Terps have seen flashes of success in Bakich’s third season, but despite their 11-1 start and their 8-5 come-frombehind victory over No. 1 Florida State on Monday night, it hasn’t all gone smoothly.

But for a team that has totaled the best record of Bakich’s tenure this season (31-22), the future looks bright.

“Maryland has improved its facilities three-fold the last few years, so with Bakich’s acumen for relating to players and recruits, don’t be shocked if the Terrapins are at the top of the ACC in a year or two,” ESPN.com contributor and College Baseball Today blogger Eric Sorenson wrote in an email.

With a three-game series with No. 21 Virginia next week as the only games left on the schedule, the Terps have an opportunity to make a push into the ACC and NCAA postseasons, ending droughts that have lasted since 2005 and 1971, respectively.

Players like Bosse are helping to pave the way for future Terps success on the diamond. Last weekend’s trip to Tallahassee, Fla., to take on the Seminoles in a hostile environment showed Bosse and other young Terps what the next few years could hold if the Terps stay on the same path they’re on now.

“That’s what coach Bakich had pitched to me when he came to my house,” Bosse said. “We hadn’t really been in an environment like that up until now.”

Bakich climbed up the ladder from a young volunteer assistant to a hotshot recruiting coordinator to a coach determined to turn around a stagnant program. Now that he’s in College Park, the Terps feel like they have the capability to do the same thing. “[The coaching staff] seemed to know what they were doing and had the right mindset for making this program good,” Convissar said. “I think we’re getting there and I want to be a part of that.”

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Before he took over the moribund Terps program, Bakich was known as one of the top young recruiters in the country. Seven times in seven seasons at Vanderbilt, Bakich’s recruiting classes were nationally ranked. He even recruited the No. 1 pick in the 2007 MLB Draft, left-hander David Price.

For the coach who hired him, it was easy to see why.

“He’s got a very infectious personality,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “He’s kind.

He’s always got a smile on his face. He’s happy to be around.

He’s got positive energy. He’s humble. … It’s easy for him to relate to kids. He makes people feel good around him.”

As an assistant, Bakich worked with hitters, outfielders and helped institute a strength and conditioning program for the Commodores. Though he said his pitching career ended in Little League, Bakich even tried to pick up any bit of information he could from the pitching staff.

“He was very involved in a lot of facets of our program, and then he took on the recruiting responsibilities,” Corbin said. “It was like his baby. He was very immersed in that, from letters to relationships to traveling.”

When he came to College Park, Bakich entered a situation similar to that of the one Corbin entered at Vanderbilt. At the time of Corbin’s hiring, the Commodores hadn’t advanced to the SEC Tournament in eight years. And while the success with the Terps hasn’t come as quickly as it did in Nashville — the Commodores made the SEC Tournament in Corbin’s first season — Corbin knows that it’s in the cards for Bakich.

“He’s young. He’s passionate.

He loves it. He’s soaked up in it,” Corbin said. “We all love baseball and we all know what we know about baseball, but the most

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WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Double Dipping Two-time champ anchors defense

BY NICHOLAS MUNSON Staff writer

There’s something special about Brittany Dipper.

Not because she’s started in goal all four seasons for the Terrapins women’s lacrosse program. Not because she earned Rookie of the Week honors in her first ACC Tournament. Not even because she was named the National Goalie of the Year last season.

After all, those accolades only tell part of the senior’s story.

While Dipper has been an integral part of the Terps’ lacrosse program since arriving in College Park in 2008, she’s also manned the net for a different varsity squad on campus — the field hockey team.

She’s won a national title with both.

Although Dipper initially signed on with coach Cathy Reese to play lacrosse, she was a dual-sport athlete her first year in college. She was a member of the Terps’ 2008 national championship field hockey squad, when she redshirted to gain another year of eligibility.

She eventually chose to focus on a single sport after her redshirt freshman field hockey season and lacrosse campaign, opting for the one that brought her to College Park in the first place.

“In field hockey, she was exceptional and will probably always be exceptional,” said Missy Meharg, the coach of the Terrapins field hockey program that has won the national championship three times in the last four years. “We were lucky to have her compete with us for a few seasons. I’ve always been a little jealous of Cathy Reese for signing her first.”

The funny thing about it all?

Dipper never could’ve imagined she’d drop field hockey for lacrosse when she was in high school. She had her first dabbling in lacrosse at Kingsway Regional High in Woolwich Township, N.J., but only to enhance her goaltending skills in field hockey.

Lacrosse eventually became Dipper’s “number one,” and

Goalie Brittany Dipper is a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award for the Terps this season. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

she immediately impressed Reese while at a summer camp in College Park.

And after Meharg talked with Reese about Dipper’s field hockey prospects, Dipper found herself guarding the cage for both teams at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

But she made more of an immediate impact in lacrosse, making the ACC All-Tournament Team after notching double-digit save totals in both of the Terps’ tournament victories. Dipper and the rest of the team fell short of their ultimate objective in the NCAA Tournament, though, falling to North Carolina, 8-7.

The tide turned for the dualsport athlete during her sophomore year. Reese asked for a deeper commitment from Dipper, who was receiving substantially more playing time in lacrosse than field hockey.

After wrapping up her lone year with Meharg’s team, she ended her field hockey career and focused solely on lacrosse.

The hard work paid off. Dipper started nearly every game in 2010, and was a force in net come playoff time. For the second straight year, she made the

ACC Championship All-Tournament team, highlighted with a career-high 12 saves against top-ranked North Carolina in the conference championship.

She followed up with seven critical saves in the Terps’ 13-11 win over Northwestern in the national championship, helping end the Wildcats’ run of five straight titles.

“Not many people get to win one national championship, and to be able to do it twice in two different sports … it was one of my biggest honors, and two of the best moments in college,” Dipper said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Well, maybe one more thing.

Numerous awards and wins highlighted her junior campaign, including making the ACC Championship All-Tournament team for the third straight year.

Dipper had become a marquee name in the world of college lacrosse. She was placed on the Tewaaraton Watch List, was a First Team All-American and was named the National Goalie of the Year.

But a national championship rematch against Northwestern

see DIPPER, page 14

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THE DIAMONDBACK | SPORTS | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

BASEBALL

Coach Erik Bakich (left) recruited Tampa Bay pitcher David Price (top right) and Pittsburgh third baseman Pedro Alvarez (bottom right) to Vanderbilt. CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK. PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLICKR

On the local lookout In rebuilding Terps program, Bakich stays close to home

BY DANIEL GALLEN Senior staff writer

More than a decade ago, a young Matt Bosse sat in his Baltimore home, watching former Terrapins basketball star Juan Dixon captivate the university during a Final Four appearance and national championship run.

Three hundred and twenty-five miles away in Greenville, N.C., Erik Bakich was wrapping up a shor t stint in professional baseball, returning to his alma mater East Carolina University as a volunteer assistant.

Both were years away from reaching their goals, but both knew exactly where they wanted to be. Bosse wanted to follow in Dixon’s footsteps and become a Terp.

Bakich wanted to climb from his low-level job all the way to the top of a major college program in a high-profile conference.

A decade later, both have realized those dreams. Bosse is a key reserve outfielder for the Terrapins baseball team, stepping onto the field each day with “Maryland” scrawled across his chest just as Dixon did all those years ago.

And Bakich? He’s the coach who recruited

him to College Park.

Bosse, along with third baseman K.J. Hockaday, formed the cornerstone of Bakich’s 2011 recruiting class. That group, along with the nationally recognized 22player class that came in the previous year, is credited with the continued overhaul of the Terps program and has them on the verge of making their first postseason appearance of any kind since 2005.

The recruiting philosophy that drove Bakich to target those players is steeped through his own experiences playing and assisting at a number of programs, all the while forming relationships with players, parents and other coaches. Those interactions provide the incentive for players to play for him, as well as give him the incentive to coach them.

“Recruiting is the lifeblood of any good college sports program,” Bakich said.

“Good players make good coaches, and that’s just the way it is. That is and will always be the single most important facet of our program 100 percent of the time.”

CLOSE TO HOME When Bakich took over the Terps in

June 2009, there was one logical place for him to start recruiting: Maryland. But after spending the previous seven years as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, he knew little about the area.

Yet even in unfamiliar territory, Bakich hit the ground running. He wanted to make sure the best players in the state stayed close to home in college. So as soon as NCAA rules would allow it, the newly minted Terps coach was on the phone with some of the state’s most talented players.

At 12:01 a.m. on July 1, 2009 — the first permissible time for coaches to contact prospective recruits — second baseman Kyle Convissar’s home phone rang. No one was awake to answer the call, but when the Severna Park native woke up the next morning, his parents had a message from Bakich waiting.

“I wasn’t expecting anything,” Convissar said. “It was [after] my junior year. I got these little letters from a bunch of teams all over the place. I didn’t really know how the process really worked, and then the next thing I know, first day comes and I’ve got a message.”

Convissar’s teammate at Severna Park

see BAKICH, page 17

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 | THE DIAMONDBACK

19

Sports

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MEN’S LACROSSE

The long fight back After battling through transfer and injuries, Chanenchuk thriving

BY CONNOR LETOURNEAU Senior staff writer

M

Midfielder Mike Chanenchuk has improved steadily throughout his first season with the Terps.

FEBRUARY 2009 Suffers stress fracture in lower back during practice at Princeton

CHANENCHUK’S

DECEMBER 2011

INJURY-RIDDLED

Tears meniscus during indoor lacrosse tournament in Poquott, N.Y.

JOURNEY

OCTOBER 2010 Breaks collarbone in scrimmage vs.

Georgetown

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE CHANENCHUK AND CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

CHARLIE DEBOYACE/THE DIAMONDBACK

ichael Chanenchuk was feeling it.

He’d just scored two early goals in an October 2010 scrimmage against Georgetown, and was eyeing his third.

The Princeton men’s lacrosse midfielder kicked into high speed, dodged across the midfield and unleashed his shot on the cage.

And then it happened. A Hoyas defenseman came out of seemingly nowhere to lay a late hit on the sophomore. As the ball met net to give him the hat trick, Chanenchuk was writhing in pain on the ground,

gritting his teeth.

He tried to do what he had done so many times before during the numerous occasions his aggressive attacking style had inevitably left his body hurting — he tried to stand up.

“I tried to get up, and my shoulder didn’t come with me,” he would later tell his father, Mike Chanenchuk, who watched the incident unfold from the stands that day. “It just laid there on the turf.”

Chanenchuk had shattered his collarbone and would require surgery in the coming days. For the second time in less than two years, his season was over before it could start.

It was perhaps the most significant setback in a career that’s been riddled with them. A February 2009 stress fracture in his back ended what was supposed to be his freshman campaign.

Two medical redshirts netted him just two academic semesters’ worth of credits during a three-year span at Princeton. A torn meniscus hampered his first few months in College Park.

Despite all the trials and tribulations that Chanenchuk has endured playing the sport he said he loves more than anything, the Poquott, N.Y., native is left doing what he couldn’t do that fall day in Virginia: He’s still standing.

After nagging injuries limited his production for the majority of the regular season, Chanenchuk is now thriving on the Terps’ first midfield line. He has scored at least one goal in each of his past four games, and appears poised to help his new team upset a dynamic Lehigh squad in the first round of the NCAA Tournament tomorrow night.

“If you look at our team, I think we’ve had some challenges. Personally, I’ve had some challenges, so it’s a real grind,” Chanenchuk said.

“Being able to focus on this one game and knowing that we don’t win, our season’s over, it’s going to help our team out a lot.”

UNTIMELY INJURY A couple of months ago, Chanenchuk told his father he wished he had come to College Park out of high school.

It was an opportunity he could’ve taken. Inside Lacrosse rated Chanenchuk the No. 2 midfielder in the class of 2008 during his junior year at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington Station, N.Y., making him one of the most soughtafter recruits in the country. He had a host of offers from the traditional lacrosse powers.

And after wading through his

see CHANENCHUK, page 15

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THE DIAMONDBACK | SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012