091608

2008

VOTE TURNER’S REBUTTAL

29

DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION

Chris Turner’s efficiency spearheaded Saturday’s win SPORTS | PAGE 10

Nelly’s latest has the St. Louis rapper sounding like a pathetic imitation of himself

Most students are eligible to vote. Register online at www.diamondbackonline.com/election

DIVERSIONS | PAGE 8

A LACK OF BRASS

THE DIAMONDBACK TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

99TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 11

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Anti-slots efforts take a big blow State high court leaves Nov. referendum intact

BY MEGAN ECKSTEIN Senior staff writer

The state’s highest court yesterday shot down a challenge to the wording of the upcoming slot machine referendum, after anti-slots lobbyists claimed the wording was inherently biased and would trick voters into supporting the measure.

Amid statewide budget problems, the state is hoping to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize slot machines, and revenue would be used in large part to provide a permanent funding source for education, including public universities.

But Stop Slots Maryland, an anti-slots group, argued that the referendum — which “authorizes the state to issue up to five video lottery licenses for the primary purpose of raising revenue for education of children in public schools,

Please See SLOTS, Page 3

Students push for postponed DOTS carpool Allen: Faculty debate may further delay program

BY JEANETTE DER BEDROSIAN

Members of the University Senate and campus community listen to the annual State of the Campus address. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

Mote outlines campus goals, successes

In his speech yesterday, President Dan Mote highlighted the goals of the strategic plan. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

ANALYSIS: Securing state funds will be difficult in meek economy

University’s 10-year goals focus of annual speech

BY KEVIN ROBILLARD

Staff writer

Members of the Campus Transportation Advisory Committee last Wednesday debated a possible parking program that would provide faculty, staff and commuter student carpoolers with discounted permits and better parking spaces.

DOTS had originally announced the carpool program’s launch for Sept. 1, but recently told The Diamondback it would be postponed until the spring semester. After hearing debate between faculty and students in last week’s CTAC meeting, Allen said the program may start even later.

The program, which is still in the beginning stages of discussion, would offer 20-percent discounts to those who carpool to the campus in

BY BRADY HOLT AND MARISSA LANG

Senior staff writer

Senior staff writers

University President Dan Mote emphasized the value of the university’s strategic plan and the importance of funding its implementation in his annual State of the Campus address yesterday, though he left many questioning where the money is coming from.

The latest version of the strategic plan — which covers the university’s goals for the next 10 years — was first released this spring and is intended to be very specific on how it will carry out these goals.

“Our strategic plan is our best strategy for creating our future,” Mote said in his speech. “It is an action stream and not a stream of fuzzy platitudes.”

University President Dan Mote paraphrased Godfather Don Corleone during his annual State of the Campus address yesterday.

“The state needs to see an opportunity that it cannot refuse,” he said.

Mote’s address barely touched on the upcoming school year, focusing on the accomplishments of the university over the past year and the university’s long-term plan for the next decade.

The most important aspect of the speech was on the university’s strategic plan, which the university spent the last academic year crafting and is beginning to implement. The 10-year plan aims to make the university one of the best

Please See SPEECH, Page 3

Please See ANALYSIS, Page 3

Please See CARPOOL, Page 3

Technology, office upgrades help OMSE to serve students

Age 25, among the top 25 and worth $2.5M

Mentors offer guidance to underrepresented students

Alumnus ranks among the nation’s top young entrepreneurs

BY TIRZA AUSTIN

BY CHRIS YU

Staff writer

Staff writer

Light floods invitingly into the previously gloomy Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education, illuminating the fresh paint on the walls.

The office, located in Hornbake Library, was renovated over the summer, shedding new rays of hope for the space and the program.

The office, which exists to academically support underrepresented racial groups by providing peer mentors and tutors, moved into its reinvented home Aug. 25, OMSE Director Christopher Lester said.

“It’s a totally different atmosphere,” Assistant Director for Outreach and Programming Dottie Bass, who has been in working in the

Anik Singal gave up everything — his hopes of becoming a doctor, his 4.0 GPA, his full scholarship — to start his own business. With a strong ambition and just $100 to his name, the university graduate was able to turn nothing into a multi-million dollar corporation.

Singal’s efforts are now being nationally recognized, as he was named one of BusinessWeek’s “America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs 2008” last week.

Singal admitted he is taking advantage of his newfound celebrity.

“I am shamelessly plugging myself everywhere [I go],” he said. “It’s the competitive

Please See OMSE, Page 2

TOMORROW’S WEATHER:

The OMSE office underwent renovations this summer. JAMES B. HALE /THE DIAMONDBACK

Sunny/70s

INDEX

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

Please See ALUMNUS, Page 2 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Alum Anik Singal, 25, was named one of America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek magazine. COURTESY OF AKIN SINGAL

DIVERSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . .8 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

www.diamondbackonline.com

2

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

TODAY

WE WANT YOU Story ideas? News tips?

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

OVERHEARD

TWO BLEACH-BLONDE FRESHMEN FEMALES DISCUSS POSSIBLE STUDY ABROAD DESTINATIONS

Roommate: Are you thinking of, like, studying abroad?

Friend: Yeah, probably ... like, maybe to some big fashion city or something.

Roommate: Well, you should go to Europe, like, Milan.

Friend: Milan? Isn’t ... isn’t that in Asia?

Roommate: You’re thinking of Mulan, stupid!”

- Denton Hall OVERHEARD BY ANONYMOUS

Tell us what you overheard at www.diamondbackonline.com/interact

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20% 30%

24% 26%

30%

Probably not

26%

Not a chance

24%

Maybe

20%

Without question

BRIEFS Extended morning service to Towers reinstated Extended morning service on the University Town Center bus route restarted last Tuesday after only one day of cutbacks, said David Allen, Director of the Department of Transportation Services. Management of the Towers at University Town Center asked for the extended service between 8:20 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. to be continued. Allen said he heard anecdotally that buses were crowded on the day without extended service, but all students were still able to get on.

— Jeanette Der Bedrosian

Google founder endows UM medical school BALTIMORE — The University of Maryland School of Medicine announced Monday that Google founder Sergey Brin and his parents have endowed a professor’s chair at the medical school, where Brin’s mother is being treated for Parkinson’s Disease.

Lisa Shulman is the first recipient of the Eugenia Brin Professorship in Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders. Brin, his mother and his father, Michael Brin, have donated $1.5 million to the university to establish the professorship.

Eugenia Brin said the donation was made to help patients like herself and “possibly even find a cure.”

Shulman plans to use money generated by the endowment to support a database the center has developed over the past five years on more than 1,000 Parkinson’s patients.

Redskins TE Cooley apologizes for revealing photo on his personal blog ASHBURN, Va. — Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley apologized Monday for posting an explicit photo of himself on his website.

Cooley accidentally revealed more of himself than he wanted when he took a picture Sunday morning while preparing for the game against the New Orleans Saints. Cooley wanted to show the readers of his popular blog some of the study materials the players were given by coach Jim Zorn.

Cooley, however, was studying in the nude, and he didn’t examine his photo closely before posting it.

“All apologies from the website. ...

We did not want to offend anyone,” Cooley said in a posting Monday afternoon after the photo was removed. “The picture wouldn’t have been up for so long, but we were in the middle of winning a big game.

Once again, this was a complete accident, and we regret not reviewing the post more closely.”

Forum will feature Frederick M. Hess, director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, 12:15 p.m., Van Munching 1113

WEDNESDAY | Q + A

CAROLINA ROJAS-BAHR DEDICATION CEREMONY Celebrate Carolina Rojas-Bahr's life and accomplishments, 3 p.m., Hornbake: Hornbake Plaza

THURSDAY | BEST of the BLOGS

FRIDAY | SCENE + HEARD

Officials say improved OMSE office is ‘like a gift’ OMSE, from Page 1 same suite for 21 years, said.

“Now it’s warm, calm and colorful. The colorful walls and cheerful environment will help our constituency see us as more professional.”

The renovations added space, technology and color to the once-dark office space.

Ceiling lights illuminate an orange wall with silver lettering transcribing the office’s motto, “High standards, high expectations, excellence.”

“It’s functional. The space we had previously wasn’t functional,” Lester said.

One of the study spaces formerly had three different and often competing functions,

ONLINE POLL Would lowering the drinking age reduce dangerous alcohol consumption?

THE FUTURE OF EDUCATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Company ‘unique to the industry’ ALUMNUS, from Page 1 spirit; that’s the stuff I love about business.”

His company, Affiliate Classroom, is an online publisher that sells products and courses to teach people how to market online. Its projected revenue for this year is more than $2.5 million, according to a university press release.

Singal’s company made the list because it demonstrated a high potential for growth, Vivek Wadhwa, Duke University’s executive-inresidence and one of the list’s judges, said. The magazine was also looking for companies that stood out from their competitors.

In addition to Wadhwa, the finalists of the Top-25 list were chosen with the help of Richard Branson, founder of the popular Virgin brand that includes Virgin Media and Virgin Atlantic airlines.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Holy crap, Richard Branson has seen my name,’” Singal said.

Despite Singal’s growing accomplishments, he said his journey to success has been an unlikely one. In 2002, as a freshman at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, he was studying to become a medical doctor. But during his sophomore year, Singal got a job as an independent contractor for a financial firm. He enjoyed selling the company’s services so much, he decided to pursue a career in business.

With $100 he won from a Super Bowl bet, Singal launched his first website, aimed at selling a book he wrote about study tips for college students. The website failed, but it gave Singal the motivation to become a businessman.

Singal’s decision came at a high cost, however. He had to give up his scholarship at UMBC to attend the business school at this university; although his family now had to pay tuition, they were very supportive, he said.

In his junior year, Singal launched his second website, this time selling other people’s products rather than his own. He sold software, phone cards and spyware protection, a successful project that gave him a lot of experience, Singal said.

When Singal was a senior at this university, he created Affiliate Classroom, the company that is featured on BusinessWeek’s Top 25 list. Though he had to let his grades slip in order to concentrate on his new venture, he said it was worth it. The company met its first-year goal of obtaining 1,000 customers in two months.

Because his business was expanding so rapidly, Singal enrolled in the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (MTECH), a university program designed to propel students into the business field.

Karen Thornton, director of MTECH’s Hillman Entrepreneurs Program, was the one who nominated Singal as one of the candidates for BusinessWeek.

“I think it speaks leaps and bounds for the university,” Singal said. “I was equally as happy for the university as for myself.”

Singal’s co-workers said they are pleased for him. “[He] is big time,” said Andrew Ahn, Affiliate Classroom’s support manager and a university alumnus. “It’s attention he and his company deserves, because his company really does stuff that’s unique to the industry.”

— Compiled from wire reports chrisyudbk@gmail.com

making it difficult to share the space.

The new space will allow the office to bring in more guest speakers with the proper technology for slideshows and PowerPoint presentations, which it did not have before.

“Now we can have a program in our own space,” Lester said.

The computer labs also received computers better equipped to help students with special needs. New furniture replaced the worn and deteriorating pieces.

One of the staff complaints was the gray carpet, decorated with stains. Bass laughed when recalling the old flooring that is now replaced by a

brightly patterned carpet.

“No shampoo would have gotten the dirt and grime out of those fibers,” Bass said.

Doors with glass paneling were chosen to add light to the gloomy office rooms, Lester said.

“We strive to create empowering spaces,” Lester said. “OMSE is now an empowering space.”

The improvements were a boost to the program and demonstrated the administration’s commitment to multiethnic students on the campus, Lester said.

Returning students were “wowed” by the changes, Lester said.

“It says a lot to students,”

Lester said. “We have a commitment to their excellence by providing a climate and environment for their success.

[The new facility] is almost like a gift. It better serves the needs of the students.”

The office was moved to a classroom space in Hornbake during the renovation.

“In midsummer it seemed like we would never get in,” said OMSE Assistant Director Tunji Sawyer.

Because of the renovation this summer, the office had to run an abbreviated tutorial program that wasn’t as flexible as it had been in the past.

Students had to request tutors in advance rather than using the walk-in hours the

office usually provides, Lester said.

Assistant Director Michael Andrews, who joined the office in August, has noticed students “nosing around” the new facility.

“It’s exciting to see the space itself will attract people to our services,” Andrews said. “It’s important that the space you are working in is reflective of the services we offer.”

Lester was also excited by the new opportunities for students using the new space.

“It is another component to support our ability to serve students,” he said. taustindbk@gmail.com

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

3

Students saw gaps in Mote’s speech SPEECH, from Page 1

Brad Docherty, the BMGT undergraduate representative for the University Senate, asks university President Dan Mote a question about the amnesty policy after Mote’s annual State of the Campus address. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

However, despite wanting to emphasize action, Mote did not broach the subject of the Purple Line — a proposed light rail or bus-rapid transit line whose proposed route through the campus has been a point of contention between Mote and the project’s planners — an omission that did not go unnoticed by audience members.

“I wanted to hear more about on-campus issues, and especially the Purple Line,” said undergraduate senator Brad Docherty, who served as Student Government Association senior vice president last year when the SGA supported the line running down Campus Drive, which Mote has opposed. “It’s a huge issue that’s still ongoing and deserves to be addressed.”

Elise Miller-Hooks, the Senate Chair-elect filling in for Senate Chair Kenneth Holum, who was absent due to medical complications, agreed.

“There are some exciting things going on on-campus that I’m surprised he didn’t mention,” Miller-Hooks said. “Like the East Campus development

project, and of course the Purple Line and how it will reshape the campus. For [Mote] this is probably old news, but for the rest of us, it’s exciting.”

Mote also did not focus on the content of the strategic plan, which was already debated at length in the University Senate and then approved.

Rather, he discussed the merits of sticking to the plan, including the fundraising needed to achieve the plan’s goals.

Mote said a partnership was needed between the university, its alumni and the state in order to pay for the plan.

“Only this partnership can deliver the $2-billion price tag that is needed over 10 years to implement the plan,” Mote said. “Our commitment is essential to raising the remaining $400 million from the state.

The state needs to see an opportunity that it cannot refuse.”

The remaining $1.6 billion will come from fundraising, government grants and other sources.

However, the state’s recent economic trouble — which may lead to a deficit of almost $1 billion in the next fiscal year

— raised many questions among other campus leaders.

“I think he touched on a lot of good things, but I’d like to know more about what’s going on with the state fiscally,” said SGA President Jonathan Sachs, who said he is committed to doing everything in his power to diminish the impact the state’s financial trouble will have on students. He added, though, that he was left wanting the university to make the same commitment in the State of the Campus address.

“The state is having a lot of economic issues,” he said. “A lot of programs are getting cut, and I’m going to work my butt off to make sure that [the university] isn’t one of them.”

Mote, however, insisted he is committed to sticking to his plan and achieving the set goals despite potential obstacles.

“Over the course of this plan, we will have two to three budgetary downturns, and we have to push on,” Mote said.

Though the university has been focused on the strategic plan since last semester, most of the speech instead highlighted a list of achievements by university students, faculty

and programs — which he referred to as “remarkably successful.”

In a question-and-answer session after the speech, Mote delved into other issues. Two undergraduate senators — Docherty and Kevin Tervala — grilled Mote about student alcohol use and his viewpoints on Good Samaritan policies.

Mote had joined other university presidents in signing on to the Amethyst Initiative — which he described as a “dialogue on young people drinking” — but had not mentioned it in his address.

In response to a question from Docherty, Mote said “drinking age should be part of the conversation that takes place.”

“I have no illusion, by the way, that we’re going to change the drinking age. I just want to have a day on the campus when all these issues could be brought out,” Mote said. He then added, “I don’t have any opinion on the drinking age — at least not one that I want to express.” holtdbk@gmail.com, langdbk@gmail.com

Money from slots could raise university to planned elite level ANALYSIS, from Page 1 public research universities in the country. The plan covers a range of areas, sets specific benchmarks for recruitment, fundraising and research and will result in an overhaul of the university’s general education program.

The plan seems to succeed the pledge made by Provost Nariman Farvardin, who led the crafting of the strategic plan, when he made his first presentation about the plan to the University Senate last fall. He began it with a quote from the architect Daniel Burnham: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood.”

The main problem with it is the price tag.

The plan has a cost of $2 billion over 10 years. The university plans to raise $1.6 billion of that from donors.

The other $400 million needs to come from the state of Maryland — which is currently running a deficit that may hit $1 billion in the next fiscal year.

Mote said he introduced the plan to state leaders and legislators on Sept. 10 and found “[their] enthusiasm for our plan was inspiring.”

Unfortunately, enthusiasm and inspiration have no monetary value.

The state of Maryland would undoubtedly love to have a university that could drive its economy through good and bad times the way the University of California or University of North Car-

Carpool program is only in its beginning stages CARPOOL, from Page 1 groups of two or more, according to the Department of Transportation Services’ proposal. Five percent of faculty lots would be set aside for assigned carpool spots, and periodic checkpoints at the entrances of the campus

would ensure carpool permit holders are in fact carpooling, the document said.

Though most CTAC members supported the Department of Transportation Services’ initiative to further reduce carbon emissions and encourage carpooling, some — namely faculty members —

olina systems do. The plan, if successful, would place the university on that elite level.

But the state needs to contribute an additional $40 million a year to help the university reach that level.

But despite numerous tax increases and funding cuts last fall, a weakening economy means the state is still in dire fiscal trouble.

A potential solution to the problem is the legalization of slots, which could bring $600 million a year to the state’s coffers by 2011. But opponents of legalization say slots will increase crime, divorce rates and drug addiction, among other social ills.

Mote acknowledged the financial problems during his speech. In a deviation

from his prepared remarks, he said he anticipated there would be two or three budgetary downturns over the course of the plan’s 10 years.

“That’s just the way it is,” he said. “Look at this as our first test of will.”

Mote spent the first half of the speech laying out the opportunities the state has.

He pointed out the accomplishments of student groups (national championships for mock trial, the helicopter design team, underwater robotics and the competitive cheer team); hyped the university’s strides in teaching, sustainability and diversity (the most black doctorate graduates in the university’s history, a 25-kilotonne drop in carbon dioxide emissions over the past four years);

opposed the program because it would reduce faculty parking spots and would be difficult to monitor, Director of Transportation David Allen said.

The program’s discount means less money would be brought in per carpool permit and less permits would be sold overall, leaving non-carpooling permit holders to make up the cost difference.

“Every carpool that’s created, that’s a reduction in revenue,” Allen said. “Sustainability costs money.”

Joanna Calabrese, senior vice president of the Student Government Association and CTAC member, was one of the proponents of the carpool program.

“It might be hard to get up and running, and it might be hard to monitor, but I think it's definitely worth trying,” she said.

Though Calabrese herself has championed for sustainability on the campus, she recognizes that not all students share her priorities.

“I wouldn’t say that the majority of the student body is in tune entirely with living sustainably. Maybe that’s not their fault,” she said. “A lot of people are going to find it inconvenient.

That’s inevitable, but that’s sort of the attitude that people approach any kind of habit that would reduce carbon

emissions.”

The program would potentially put carpoolers in faculty lots such as Regents Drive Garage, Mowatt Lane Garage, Stadium Drive Garage and other lots near academic buildings, the proposal said.

The program would not take spots away from faculty members who already have permits to these lots, but it would give carpoolers priority for a certain number of spots in each lot as they open up, Allen said. For example, if a faculty member leaves a position with the university, the open spot would go to a carpooler over the faculty member’s replacement, Allen said.

DOTS had originally announced the carpool program’s launch for Sept. 1, but recently told The Diamondback it would be postponed until the spring semester.

After hearing the debate in last week’s CTAC meeting, Allen said the program may start even later. A database on the DOTS web site would help connect carpoolers who live near each other.

Both Allen and Calabrese said they are eager to get student feedback on the program.

“It’s not even a pilot [yet],” Allen said. “It is only a draft and we have had very little input.” jeanettedbk@gmail.com

praised researchers ($12 million to study terrorism, $14.5 million for a physics center); and acknowledged the university’s rise in rankings (according to one ranking of research universities, 37th worldwide).

Toward the end of his speech, Mote related a conversation he once had with the late newspaper publisher and university donor Philip Merrill.

“He advised me that no one is in charge,” Mote said.

“He said that leaders simply take charge and create the future; they are not given the charge. The same can be said of the university. To lead, it must simply take charge of its future and create it.”

Here, the university is fol-

Dear First Year Student: Welcome to the University of Maryland!

It's never too early to begin to plan what your four years here will be like. If you know your major, or you have an idea of what you'd like to study, I suggest you first look at www.4yearplans.umd.edu. Each major provides students with a semester-by-semester plan, as well as the benchmarks necessary to complete in order to graduate. Before you register for next semester, you'll need to write out your own plan to complete your degree. Don't forget to consider possibly studying abroad, undergraduate research,

and/or internships. While it may seem early to think about walking across that stage and receiving your diploma, good planning helps you stay on track, do what you want to do, and graduate in four years.

Next month we'll explain the Student Academic Success-Degree Completion Policy and how to prepare for early registration.

Sincerely, Advisor Dear Advisor: My roommate told me that new students can receive “freshmen forgiveness” when they do poorly in a class. What does that mean?

Signed, Curious Dear Curious: Contrary to popular opinion, there is no

“freshmen forgiveness.” There is however, the repeat policy. Students are able to repeat a course once. If a course is repeated, the two grades are averaged when your grade point average is computed. However, if you repeat a course that you first took during your first 24 credits (for freshmen) or first semester (for transfers), only the new grade is computed in your GPA. The first grade, however, is always on your transcript. The University recognizes that coming to college is an adjustment and tries to provide policies and practices that assist students. Keep in mind--you are only able to repeat 18 credits total throughout your college career, so choose wisely!!! For more information about the repeat policy, please see http://www.umd.edu/catalog/index.cfm/sho w/content.section/c/27/ss/1584/s/1537 Sincerely, Advisor

robillarddbk@gmail.com

Referendum leaves out other benefiters SLOTS, from Page 1 prekindergarten through grade 12, public school construction and improvements, and construction of capital projects at community colleges and higher education institutions” — ignored the fact that some slotgenerated revenue would also support the horse-racing industry and slot machine owners.

The Anne Arundel Circuit Court last week approved the language of the referendum after adding the word “primary” to clarify not all the money would go toward funding education.

Judges on Court of Appeals yesterday suggested some new wording, but they ultimately decided to approve the wording the lower court favored.

In its legal brief, Stop Slots Maryland wrote, “Lawmakers may not avoid a decision to approve slot machines by tricking their constituents into casting this vote for them,” and “the circuit court’s revision does little to cure a question which all three [circuit court] judges found to be misleading.”

Maryland Secretary of State John McDonough said yester-

The University of Maryland “Survivor” Guide Dear Advisor: Now that schedule adjustment is over and my schedule is set, I've been thinking ahead to future semesters. How do I begin to prepare? What classes should I take? Where can I find this information?

Signed, New First Year Student

lowing Merrill’s advice.

While getting the necessary money from the state will be a struggle, the chances of the university receiving the funding without the strategic plan would be microscopic.

“Our community, including our alumni and friends,” Mote said, using his preferred term for outside donors, “has said that we should commit now to creating the great university. This is a monumental conclusion.

This commitment to work together to raise the whole institution has been the largest missing piece in our effort to lift this university to the next level.”

With that, Mote made his offer. Can the state refuse it?

“I believe it is important now that all parties move forward and discuss the important public issues involved, and let the voters make the final decision on November 4.”

JOHN MCDONOUGH MARYLAND SECRETARY OF STATE

day he supported the Circuit Court’s decision and was glad the Court of Appeals did not further change the referendum wording.

“I believe it is important now that all parties move forward and discuss the important public issues involved, and let the voters make the final decision on November 4,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. ecksteindbk@gmail.com

Office of Undergraduate Studies Advising.umd.edu

Dear Advisor: I worked with an academic advisor during orientation. Will I keep the same advisor throughout my four years of college just as I did with my guidance counselor in high school?

Sincerely, A. Freshman Dear A. Freshman: In most colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, there are two kinds of advisors: professional advisors and faculty advisors. Professional advisors usually assist students in their first year or two of college. They help students select a major, give advice on general education (or CORE) courses, and help with referrals to other University offices. Professional advisors are also the folks who review your record for an audit (to determine if you're making progress) and to make sure you've completed all your requirements for graduation.

Faculty advisors are more likely to be helpful once you're sure of a major, when they can provide information on courses for the major, undergraduate research, graduate school, and career choices. Students usually have a faculty advisor sometime after their first year. Here's a tip, though--get to know your faculty members and visit them during office hours. You'll feel comfortable enough to ask for help when you need it. Also, you'll know faculty when you need letters of recommendation, and faculty are the folks who will be instrumental in helping you with career and graduate school advice.

Sincerely, Advisor

Do you have advising questions?

If so, please send them to Lkiely@umd.edu.

4

THE DIAMONDBACK | OPINION | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

Opinion

THE DIAMONDBACK

STEVEN OVERLY

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Staff Editorial

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Protect this house

In defense of ROTC

O

n a summer afternoon in 1991, a fire raged through the upscale state money, they have also distanced themselves from the oversight the Berkeley Hills community overlooking the University of California, state government can provide. For instance, the University of Michigan, Berkeley. As residents fled, Dan Mote, then vice chancellor at which receives less than 10 percent of its budget from the state, accepts only 68 percent of its students from in-state. But at this university, where Berkeley, fought the blaze from his roof, garden hose in hand. it’s a political priority to accept a high percentage of Maryland residents, This fire story is one of the tales told most often by Mote’s former Berke77 percent of students live in-state. If the state wants to stay ley colleagues. And although Mote framed the university’s committed to offering state residents excellent and affordfinancial straits with a different metaphor in his State of able higher education, the state needs to invest in higher the Campus speech yesterday, the fire story seems to indieducation. cate university officials’ ultimate goal as they look to Although the university The University of Virginia has an agreement where it can implement a $2 billion strategic plan: self-reliance.

Mote signaled that for the strategic plan to work, the has shown signs of finan- set tuition, issue bonds and approve capital projects indeof the state. But that also means voters can’t presuniversity will need to follow a course that stays consistent cial independence, state pendent sure their elected officials to hold tuition down. And while through both good times and bad. If the university is to support is still important. the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents meet the plan’s goal of becoming an elite public institupressured this university to promote new housing options in tion, Mote made it clear it will have to control its own fate. the private sector before it would approve a new dorm, the state earns that The need for financial independence seems obvious, especially considerleverage only by investing in higher education. ing how the university floundered through a rocky state budget in the midBut the state has not proven itself to be a consistent partner as this univerdle of the decade when officials were forced to cut services and watch sity looks toward greatness. Just last week, Mote said that the state’s finantuition balloon. But as the university becomes more independent — it’s cial disrepair could forecast mid-year budget cuts at this university. While already raised more than $1 billion from private donations — it will be we hope the state remains actively involved in funding higher education, we important for the state to remain invested in higher education. applaud Mote for not letting the university’s future depend on it.

Where many of the university’s peers have lessened their reliance on

Our View

Editorial Cartoon: Mike O’Brien

Politics: An education in VP picks

T

his past Thursday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R - AK) gave her first major TV interview since being announced as Sen. John McCain’s (R - Ariz.) running mate with ABC’s Charlie Gibson. Already, numerous writers and media members have pounced on a host of scary answers that underline her lack of presidential experience.

One of Palin’s more serious gaffes came when she apparently couldn’t identify the Bush Doctrine, a foreign policy principle that says America can preemptively attack nations it perceives as threats. During the interview, Palin also admitted she has never met a foreign head of state. When asked what insight her close proximity to the Russian border gave her, she noted that one can actually see Russia from Alaskan land. Palin also defended her evangelical faith, citing

HUNTER

PAVELA

Abraham Lincoln in her defense, although the connection was laughable at best.

These comments and more have led to a firestorm of criticism about Palin’s credentials. Although much could be said about some of the governor’s answers, the scariest aspect isn’t her lack of experience. After all, that’s a quality Democratic candidate Barack Obama also lacks. Rather, it’s the broader implications of McCain’s selection. McCain and his advisors have succeeded in wedging a cultural schism, much like the one that charac-

terized the election in 2000.

Palin was selected partly to compete with Obama on what had previously been his turf — the ability to bring about change and outsider status.

However, she also has succeeded in appealing to the evangelical base of the Republican Party that hadn’t yet been sold on McCain. In selecting Palin, McCain is actively seeking to disengage from an issues-based campaign. Instead, the Republicans are trying to kill two birds with one stone, first by restoring McCain’s image as a maverick, while at the same time allowing McCain to dissociate with President Bush and hold onto the Christian conservatives he will need to galvanize if he hopes to win the election in November.

If one takes a close look at the comments Palin has been making, one can’t help but notice an undercurrent of anti-intellectualism that seems to be

suggested, if not deliberately implied, by the Republican campaign. By trying to cast herself as a small town “hockey mom” from Alaska, one who can relate to small-town America, Palin is trying to paint the opposition as elitist outsiders. Whether or not this tactic will be successful in the long run remains to be seen, but it’s a sad continuation of the popularization of American politics. What’s so wrong about wanting elitists to run the country anyway? I’m all for social mobility and the middle class, but when it comes to the most important public office in the land, I wouldn’t mind seeing elite credentials. For all those aspiring to high office, it might be time to start looking at beauty pageants rather than law school.

Hunter Pavela is a senior Chinese and philosophy major. He can be reached at hpavela@umd.edu.

Energy: Get gone, gas guzzlers

A

re you paying $2.42 a gallon for gas? Do you expect to be paying this price for gas at any point in the next 10 years? I certainly hope not, otherwise I can guarantee you’ll be sorely disappointed.

But that’s what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration assumed you’d be paying when it set minimum fuel economy standards for 2020 at 35 mpg. Of course, the car I drive now gets that, and it isn’t even a hybrid.

Technically, the Energy Security and Independence Act Congress passed last year set this minimum, but it was the NHTSA’s job to perform a cost benefit analysis to determine whether they should set the standard higher. I don’t understand how the NHTSA could have assumed gas would cost $2.42 in 2015. Did somebody forget to carry a one?

The irony is that these are the same Einsteins who haven’t raised our fuel economy standards for decades because they’ve been assuming gas would always be cheaper than salt. The reason so many Americans are hurting right now is everything in our economy, our infrastructure, our lives and yes, our cars, have been designed on the premise of cheap gas. Automakers don’t seem to have caught on, either. Despite Ford and G.M. posting billions of dollars in losses, they’re still fighting new fuel efficiency standards harder than ever — the very standards they’ve been fighting all these years on the false notion it would cost jobs and capital. No one seems to have figured out that the most expensive action was to do nothing.

Hindsight might be 20/20, but these people seriously need some glasses. Actually, binoculars might be more useful,

MATT

DERNOGA

because it’s going to take some foresight to get America out of this mess. Planning our fuel economy standards on the basis of $2.42 a gallon for gas isn’t a game.

It’s dangerous. You’re playing Russian roulette with the American economy.

You’re holding a gun to its head and pulling the trigger with the hope it fires a blank. When gas crept up over $4 a gallon this summer, far too many people and businesses were at a breaking point.

Prices fell because Americans drove tens of billions of miles less in the span of

only a couple of months. The price of a gallon of gas is inevitably going to rise again, as global demand for oil is rising rapidly and even oil companies are declaring it will be impossible to keep pace with production.

Making our cars far more efficient is going to be crucial in avoiding an energy crisis. The notion that we can’t rise up and meet that challenge with the next generation of fuel efficient cars, hybrids and plug-in hybrids is a false . It’s unnatural for America to only meet the bare minimum of what’s required. The NHTSA needs to do something they’ve never tried before: the right thing. The time is now to reconsider minimum fuel economy standards.

Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu.

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

RICHARD GARCIA

T

o put it bluntly: It is despicable that The Diamondback would run Malcolm Harris’ column, “Book: A force that gives the campus meaning,” on the seventh anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. His article is fraught with antimilitary, anti-American rhetoric veiled behind his praise of this year’s first-year book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, by Chris Hedges.

Harris’ article’s purpose is to indoctrinate freshmen with his political views, and on such a day, that’s inappropriate.

When Harris writes, “The university is not exempt from the long tentacles of the military-industrial complex. University logos adorn ROTC posters and military recruiters stalk the halls,” there are several objections that spring to mind. He conjures up images of the Kent State riots in 1970. For those who don’t know what happened, rioters protesting the Vietnam War burned down the Kent State ROTC center. A day later, several students were killed in a confrontation with National Guard troops. As horrifying as the shootings were, the students who cheered the firebombing of that building are contemptible. The ROTC deserves a representative place in this eclectic community.

Harris disapproves of the “militaryindustrial complex” and associates ROTC with it, so what should we do?

Remove ROTC from the campus?

Remove recruiters from the campus because they “stalk” the halls waiting to prey on impressionable students? The parallels to Kent State are striking.

Harris’ next absurdity, “Anyone who walks into the engineering buildings need only look at the walls to see the companies that profit from bloodshed,” is an example of bleeding-heart propaganda. Of course we are seeking more effective means of killing our enemies. What we want is to avoid civilian casualties. This laudable goal makes war expensive.

It requires missiles that can hit a specific window in a specific building in the middle of a city and minimize damage to the rest of the building’s occupants. Here is a definition that Harris is unable to understand: A better bomb is a specialized one.

Making these weapons requires hard mathematics and engineering skills but most importantly, it requires money. Why should the private sector, the most creative, efficient producer in the economy, aid in developing better weapons if there is no money to be made? Should we return to the carpet bombing strategies of World War II and the Vietnam War? That would be cheaper.

In short, Harris belongs to the “blame America first” crowd. What this means is that any action taken against the United States, militarily, economically or in the form of terrorism, is justified because America is just as bad, or even worse. AlQaeda isn’t evil; they’re just responding to the oppression from Western civilization that actively seeks to undermine the stringent Muslim culture they want to preserve.

But where would the world be without the United States military?

Who stopped Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and Soviet Russia? Who is spilling their blood to spread freedom and liberty to an area of the world devoid of them? Who kicked alQaeda’s ass in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Its is a righteous cause and should be celebrated. To publicly demean the worth of the military and its supporters on Sept. 11 is reprehensible.

Richard Garcia is a junior English major. He can be reached at rgarcia@umd.edu.

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

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

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 | OPINION | THE DIAMONDBACK

5

Best of the week “Who in this room has been told they’re not good enough?”

“They’re about the game. People aren’t doing it to get drunk.”

- Football coach Ralph Friedgen before the game against California.

From the Sept. 15 edition of The Diamondback

- Justin Davidson, about playing beer pong.

From the Sept. 12 edition of The Diamondback

Guest Column

A sure bet for more crime and commotion SARA ACKERMAN

T

his November, choosing between Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will not be the only tough decision you will face.

The second question on the November ballot will ask you whether we should permanently amend the Maryland Constitution and allow slot machines. I ask only that you take into consideration the consequences this decision will have on the future of the state.

Slot machines are being hailed as the get-rich-quick scheme to save education, but at what price? Like all schemes, there is deceit to be found between the lines.

While this referendum does earmark about half of the profits to education, do not be fooled into thinking we will necessarily benefit. There is no guarantee the university will profit from the overzealous estimate of $600 million, for we will have to compete with K-12, community colleges and other public universities in the state.

It should also be noted that this referendum does not guarantee increased funding for education at all. The funding for education is in the general fund and is not guaranteed; any governor could just as easily take it away with the coming of slots.

Maybe Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) won’t, but remember, this is a permanent amendment to the Constitution. We do not know who our next governor will be or what they will decide to do.

While I may sound paranoid, such cause for alarm is not unfounded. Let us remember the last few times other forms of gambling were legalized in the state.

When the lottery and keno were legalized, they were both presented as the solutions to our education problems. However, this has not been the case. Annapolis lied to us back then, and they have no reason to tell the truth now.

As stated earlier, half the profits from slots will go to education. You may be asking yourself, “Well, what about the rest?” Thirty-three percent of the profits will go to multi-millionaire gambling executives who only care about their bottom line. Another 7 percent would would go to bail out the state’s horseracing industry.

It should also be noted what slot machines will bring to the Free State. The social costs are staggering. Slots are the crack cocaine of gambling and today, no coins are needed! You can just swipe your credit card, and there goes the mortgage payment on your house!

Gambling addiction, crime, prostitution, bankruptcy, divorce, suicide and drug addiction have been statistically proven in countless studies to increase significantly with the presence of slots. Do we really need more crime in College Park?

One of the proposed sites will be right here at Laurel Racetrack, only 14.7 miles from the campus.

Slots will also significantly affect our local economy. Many of our students depend on local restaurants and shops for employment. Many who work as servers, bartenders and delivery drivers have seen a reduction in tips due to the lackluster economy. With a slots parlor around the corner, gambling addicts may very well choose slots over eating out.

I would also like to point out the increased corruption slot machines will bring. Gambling executives will not stop with slots, and will bribe our politicians until they get full-blown casinos.

Just look at Charles Town, W.Va. — they are already funneling millions to elected officials because they know they will get their money’s worth. Let us also not forget that Maryland had slot machines in the 1950s and ’60s. We did away with slot machines for a reason: They brought nothing but misery and corruption to this state.

This November, vote “no” on two because slots are a losing bet.

Sara Ackerman is a senior government and politics major. She can be reached at sackerma@umd.edu.

“It’s going to be dramatic.”

-Regent Marvin Mandel, about the predicted $1 billion shortage in the state of Maryland From the Sept. 10 edition of The Diamondback

Gossip: Something worth talking about

A

few weeks ago, I was sitting on the campus, minding my own business (though I may have been discussing other people’s), when a classmate of mine approached me.

He said, “Eleanor Roosevelt once said that great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds” — he was looking very self-satisfied at this point — “discuss other people.” Having dropped this desk calendar-ready quotation in my lap, he walked away. There was so much to think about: Why did he say that? Should I be offended? And isn’t it a little pretentious to walk out in broad daylight and start quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, of all people?

And then the most interesting question: Why do we so frequently label gossip as small-minded when it is one of the few activities almost everyone has in common?

Between malicious rumor-mongering and Us Weekly, it’s easy to see how gossip got its bad rap. I’m not sure I want to find out what it is in the human soul that heightens our interest in Lindsay Lohan’s latest relationship (with a woman!) or Brad and Angelina’s baby pictures (they had twins!). However, this kind of tabloid gossip seems to be just one of the many ways people discuss others. When we talk about mutual friends, rant about a colleague’s latest misstep or read biographies of great thinkers, we seem to be interested in more than just the simple novelty of gossip.

SUSAN

HOLCOMB In its simplest form, gossip serves as an expedient means to create social bonds. People get excited when a mutual acquaintance comes up in conversation — it’s a topic they have a stake in and one they undoubtedly have an opinion about.

This excitement isn’t necessarily a sign of malice. Human beings are observant and analytic; we’re constantly looking at the world around us and assessing the characters of others like us. Sharing our opinion about other people is like being asked a question about a subject we’ve studied for years. Thus, good gossip — the kind of gossip that takes observations of a person’s behavior and contemplates what it reveals about that person’s character — seems more a sign of an active mind than of a small one.

Of course, one might accept this point and still argue that, while discussing other people isn’t necessarily small minded, it isn’t as high minded as discussing ideas. But does it seem right to fully divorce ideas from character? In one sense, it does — we wouldn’t expect our opinion of Einstein’s second marriage to his cousin to affect our opinion of the Special Theory of Relativity. But it is important to keep in mind that ideas

come in a context. Human beings — even the idea-makers among us — live in society and as a part of history, and these are certainly the realms of gossip. Although we can argue about how much a thinker’s social or historical background affected his ideas, we must take those surroundings into account if we are to understand how different ideas from different thinkers relate to one another.

But perhaps the most important function gossip serves is most easily seen in its simpler form, in the discussion of people we interact with.

We are going to have to have social interactions with others, and as thinking beings we will be compelled to reflect on and talk about those other people.

At its best, gossip can be a lens through which we examine ourselves, by means of which we compare ourselves to others and determine what to emulate and what to avoid. I think that ultimately we gossip because we want to understand why other people act the way they do. We want to figure out how to respond, to determine whether others share our opinions about the people up for discussion and to learn whether our opinions and our way of thinking are right. But I’ll try not to use that as an excuse for reading up on Lindsay Lohan (though I reserve the right to claim that gossiping about Paris Hilton is high-minded).

Susan Holcomb is a physics major.

She can be reached at holcombdbk@gmail.com.

at issue Should the state lower the drinking age to 18?

“ “ “ “ “ “

James Gangemi Freshman Letters and sciences

Tiffany Marshall Sophomore Psychology

Chelsea Kerl Sophomore Theater and English

I think so, it would allow students under 18 to help friends in trouble.”

Yes, because high-school kids are thrust into the college drinking scene and get overintoxicated.”

From an Italian perspective, I think bingedrinking would be less of a problem.”

Jamie Restivo Sophomore International business, Spanish

I believe kids would be more controlled; people look at drinking as rebellion.”

If you can vote and fight for your country, you should be able to drink.”

I think there will be problems with students drinking either way.”

Maria Zilberman Sophomore Journalism

Jon Weiner Sophomore Studio art

Politics: Something worth talking about

M

aybe it’s been talked about before, but it warrants repeating: Political campaigning, especially during this election, has boiled down to the hilariously irrelevant. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is old! Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)? More like Osama! Am I right? High-five!

The truth is this meaningless trivia about the candidates does nothing except cloud the real issues. Look, I don’t care who you vote for, but do yourself a favor and try to find some reasons beyond thinking Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is unfit to be vice president because she has questionable baby-naming skills. Or because Matt Damon isn’t confident in he. You know, I’m not totally confident in Matt Damon.

Instead of mapping out what we’re going to get with years of these guys, it seems like all anyone cares about is making the opposite side look bad. So, here’s Obama using the old cliché that McCain’s economic plans were “putting lipstick on a pig,” and McCain firing back that the pig in this analogy is Palin (which is preposterous as an animal analogy for her, because everyone knows she’s a cougar). And now Obama is on the Late Show with David Letterman talking about physically applying lipstick to a pig. What just happened?

It’s all like this. Instead of anyone asking, “Well, what is Obama going to do economically that McCain won’t? Why is McCain not changing anything?” we’re asking, “Did Obama call Palin a pig? What’s his deal, brah?”

But no one wants to talk about politics; everyone just wants to hate on everyone else. So all I ever hear about McCain is how he’s older than dirt. He lost his first presidential

campaign to Andrew Jackson. You know George Washington never wanted a bi-partisan system? McCain sure does, they played golf together. Hell, when it comes to McCain, you might OB know his brother, McAbel.

Seriously, cut that out. I don’t care how old the president is. Quick and without looking, name the age of any American president at the time he was elected. You can’t.

The point is, who cares? Some presidents were old. Some were young. Some died young. Some died old. It didn’t change how they performed in office. Bill Clinton was 51 when the Monica Lewinsky scandal started, and anyone will tell you he performed great in office.

And this stuff about Obama and his Muslim connections just kills me. Remember the picture the Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) campaign circulated of him with the turban on his head? Two issues with this. First off, it doesn’t matter what religion anyone’s affiliated with — unless it’s Scientology. It doesn’t mean anything. And second, I don’t care if he dresses like a sad clown riding on a unicycle balancing plates on sticks. It has nothing to do with how he might act as president.

No matter what side you’re on, I hope you’ll make an informed decision and see past all of the bull.

As for me, I’m taking a page from a Tucker Max story where he attends a football game: “I hate both teams. I figured I would just root for myself to find a nice girl.”

R

GINDES

Rob Gindes is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at rgindes@umd.edu.

Advice

Avoid the hook-up black-list ESTI

FRISCHLING

Q:

There’s a girl in a certain sorority (to remain unnamed) who I want to hook up with, but I am absolutely not interested in forming anything more serious with her. Is it worth risking any chance I might have with the rest of the girls in her sorority who might hold more serious potential for me?

I don’t pretend to be familiar with the inner workings of the university’s sisterhood, but I’ve heard rumors about the consequences of trying to play the sorority field. It seems like it’d be an easy mistake to make.

You get all dressed up in your nice button-down shirt, quickly refresh yourself on the address of your 21-year-old alias and head to one of College Park’s fine drinking establishments. You find out what the special is, and begin knocking back $1 beers as you scan the crowd for ladies. You set your sights on the girl across the room who’s moving her body like a cyclone and spit your finest game in the hopes of getting lucky.

Thankfully, she’s a lover, not a withholder, and lucky you get.

This story sounds like something that could happen to you, right? I personally know guys who’ve messed with what they assumed was a drunken one-night stand, only to discover this forlorn sister has formed some sort of attachment. Before they know it, they’ve irreversibly ended up on The List.

Oh yes, The List. I’m not sure if this is a revelation of a littleknown secret, or just an old wives’ tale, but I’m a believer. I’ve heard too much mention of The List for it to be merely fantastical.

The notorious List could be a function of very few sororities, it could be more of a virtual list; it could even be entirely fictional.

Regardless, the idea behind The List is that if a girl decides she would feel uncomfortable if one of her sisters got with a specific guy, she can put him on The List. She likes him, she hates him, she wants him, she wants to screw him over — all possible motives for listing.

However once on this list, our poor hero is doomed to wander Route 1 alone, totally off-limits to the other members of said sorority, lest the violator be deemed “unsisterly.”

Obviously, depending on the sorority, the girl and the level of intimacy, there are ways around being “listed.” The Greek community is notoriously incestuous (their words, not mine), so overlaps are bound to occur and there are leniencies allowed, especially in the case of random drunk encounters. When it comes to instances of repeated hooking up, or casual dating, the protocol is: Clear it with your sister before you do anything.

Now you might be saying (as I undoubtedly am), “Pffffffff! What a joke! No amount of side-ponytail- wearing, Vera Bradley-toting blondes can tell me who I can and cannot hook up with.” Your argument has its place, but even if you don’t respect the bonds of sisterhood, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a girl who spent six weeks in a small basement memorizing the birthdays and favorite ice cream flavors of her pledge masters who would agree with you.

The immediate answer to your question is no. It’s not worth it.

What constitutes “unsisterly” conduct varies from sorority to sorority but if the legends are even close to being true, you don't want to burn your bridges and end up on the wrong side of some slutty girl’s vendetta.

A:

Esti Frischling is a sophomore studio art major, so she literally has nothing better to do than answer your questions. She can be reached at estidbk@gmail.com.

6

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PT Crisis Counselors needed immediately evenings, overnights and weekends. Positions pay $9-11/hr. PT Homeless shelter monitors and van drivers needed starting late October positions pay $9-$13/hr. Candidates should have excellent communication skills, basic computer skills, reliable transportation. Send cover letter & resume to CCSI, Box 149, Hyattsville, MD 20781, fax: 301-864-7146, or email: tbuckley@communitycrisis.org

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We have parking spots available on Knox, Guilford, Hartwick, and Rossburg. Extremely close to South Campus! $270/semester. Call 301-770-5623 or email ryan@pinstripeproperty.com while they last.

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LAW CLERK

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TWO INTERNSHIPS WITH U.S. CENSUS BUREAU FOR SENIOR UNDERGRADUATES- AT LEAST 20 HRS/WEEK: (1) Intern in Social/Behavioral Sciences to help carry out research and help recruit respondents for carious studies; (2) Intern with Technology (Audio/Visual) training to coordinate research seminars and provide some general office support. Send resume and transcript(s) to tommy.wright@census.gov by Friday, September 19, 2008. U.S citizenship is required.

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301-509-7874 MOVE IN CLEAN. Adelphi Rd. 1 block from North Campus Dr. 5++ bedrooms, downstairs kitchenette house, $3100; 5 bedroom house $2900/month including new a/c, utilities not included. Some off-street parking. Large private yards, washer/dryer, lawn care provided. 9 month lease available- early signing bonus. CONTACT DR. KRUGER- 301-408-4801.

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Hyattsville 4 Bedroom, 2 Bath house near UM shuttle and Hyattsville Metro. $1750. Ed 240-473-0820

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.

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Seeking P/T Vet Tech w/some animal experience & P/T Receptionist. Weeknights 3:30-8pm. Weekends & holidays. Make $8-10/hr. Please call 301-441-2547.

One Block from Campus – 2 BR for $1700 (will rent by room) – 2 BR for $1200 (for full semester or year) 301-770-5623/24 Email: gosia@pinstripeproperty.com

PT/FT VET TECH. In Potomac/Rockville. 1 deal for pre-vet. 301-299-6900.

Apartment, 1 bedroom. Walking distance. College Park metro. $895. 301-335-7345

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Chick-fil-A – The Stamp Shifts from 4pm-8:30pm Monday-Friday and 9:30am-4:30pm Saturdays. Call 301-314-6568 or stop by Chick-fil-A before 11am or after 2pm. Free meal while working! $8.00 per hour.

Bartending! $250/Day Potential. No Experience Necessary. Training Provided. 1-800-965-6520 x116

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EBAY SALES Internet-savvy eBay lister/shipper wanted for local new & used sales outlet. Part time. Ebay listing experience required.

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$550/Month + Utilities Townhome on Berwyn House Rd., walking and biking distance to campus, on a shuttle route, close to College Park Metro, fully equipped kitchen, washer/dryer, share w/4 other individuals. Call Teasa, 301-699-3454.

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We have parking spots available on Knox, Guilford, Hartwick, and Rossburg. Extremely close to South Campus! $270/semester. Call 301-770-5623 or email ryan@pinstripeproperty.com while they last.

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK

7

Features HOROSCOPESTELLA WILDER

CROSSWORD ACROSS 48 Whichever 31 Work in a store 25 Oxidizes, as iron 53 Frozen dessert 1 Pant 50 Winter sight 32 Oui and si 26 Pie part 56 Get-togethers 5 Calcutta nannies 60 Length x width 52 Hawk’s lair 35 Part of LCD 27 Starbucks order 10 Bireme’s pro38 Hesitate (2 wds.) 53 Foreign car 28 Chicago airport 61 Perceived pellers 54 Willy or Shamu 40 Isolates 29 Play loudly 63 Gator kin 14 Finished 55 Tulip colors 43 Very serious 30 He played 64 “Moneytalks” 15 Piece of turf 56 Carry on 45 After that Phileas Fogg group 16 Energize 65 A Muppet 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 17 Machete cousin 66 Dr. Zhivago’s love 1 18 Tea-party crasher 67 Enjoy the sun 14 15 19 Senora from 68 Loan figures 17 18 Bonn 69 Vitality 20 Told 20 21 22 23 22 Secondhand DOWN 24 25 24 Complain 1 Asian desert 25 Budget item 2 Home-products 26 27 28 29 26 More intimate brand 29 Lightness 3 Part of SASE 33 34 35 36 33 Bleacher shout 4 Checks for typos 37 38 39 40 34 Sour pickles 5 Hepburn/Tracy 36 Limber movie (2 wds.)

42 43 44 45 37 Bryce Canyon 6 Odometer units 47 48 49 locale 7 Like some fans 39 Plays the drum 8 Ad — committee 51 52 41 Nights, in classi- 9 Hi-fi fieds 10 Behind the 53 54 55 56 42 Fine violin scenes 60 61 62 44 Cash, for instance 11 Mystique 46 Sooner than anon 12 Not phony 64 65 47 Most minuscule 13 Pivot 67 68 49 Armor defects 21 Felt sorry about 51 Coarse sand 23 “Watermark” 52 A Baldwin chanteuse © 2008 UNITED FEATURES SYNDICATE

H A L S S T S

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orn today, you are a highly intellectual individual, and you’re not likely to trust your emotions until you feel very much at home in a given situation. This is unfortunate, for there are times in which your feelings are a much more accurate barometer for what is going on, and your gut responses to things may actually keep you from getting into trouble. Still, trouble is good for you — up to a point — and you’re likely to have your share of it in your lifetime. You must learn to balance thought, feeling and action — and to avoid the traps that seem so appealing to you on the surface.

Honest, faithful and not always timid in your criticisms of others, you are widely admired — and widely hated, too, by those who are not willing to meet your expectations and live up to your considerable ideals of ethics and behavior. You are, above all, quite honorable.

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Previous Day’s Puzzle Solved:

57 Thermometer type 58 Ephron of “You’ve Got Mail” 59 Read hastily 62 Memorable time

cle course of sorts, while learning an important lesson or two yourself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — A question of taste is almost certain to arise, perhaps causing a minor rift between yourself and a friend. It may be time to compromise.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — A stroke of luck may find you competing with a rival — but on the same team. Now is a good time to bury the hatchet.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Don’t be afraid to ask for what you really want. Remember, however, that you may not be fully satisfied the first time.

Don’t let down.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — You will be empowered by circumstances beyond your control — but once you take the reins, be willing to assume more responsibility.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — Others will notice that you’re coming into your own at this time — despite any difficulty you may be having with routine affairs.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — Pressure increases, and you will be expected to accomplish more than usual in a given amount of time. It’s time to buckle down.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — Take some time to do something you really enjoy. Balance between work and play, needs and desires, enjoyment and hardship must be maintained.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — This is a good day to focus on your surroundings, and to make those changes that will serve you well in the days and weeks to come.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — You can rely only so much on your appearance and other physical attributes. In the end, you must concentrate more on inner substance.

Also born on this date are: Jennifer Tilly, actress; Lauren Bacall, actress; Janis Paige, actress; David Copperfield, magician; Mickey Rourke, actor; Peter Falk, actor; B.B. King, blues musician; Allen Funt, TV host.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — You will do best when you are able to take charge of the business at hand. Delegate authority generously — but with care.

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.

TODAY’S HOROSCOPE SPONSORED BY:

Copyright 2008, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — You may be able to trace with remarkable accuracy the roots of your own current behavior.

Many questions are sure to be answered.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — You will be able to guide someone else through a personal obsta-

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Just 35¢ per word, $3.50 minimum. Plus, if you run your ad four consecutive days, you’ll receive a fifth day FREE! All ads appear in both the print and online versions of The Diamondback – available at 60 distribution points around campus and at diamondbackonline.com.

To place your ad, call 301-3148000 or come to room 3136 South Campus Dining Hall, Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m.4:30 p.m. Or, email advertising@dbk.umd.edu.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9. For solutions, tips and computer program, see www.sudoku.com Previous Day’s Puzzle Solved:

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THE DIAMONDBACK | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

Diversions

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: It’s been five years since Metallica released St. Anger, but not much has changed since then.

Metallica still comes off as having faux-anger, still sounds dated and still have an album not even worthy of downloading. For our review of Death Magnetic, just click the Diversions link at:

arts. music. living. movies. weekend. hot and cold most definitely HOT: THE CARDINALS “SINKING SHIP” AND “THE COLOR OF PAIN” (LIVE) Ryan Adams is a little more than crazy, but the good kind of crazy — one that leads to reinvention and a prolific output. The Cardinals — Adams doesn’t want to be billed anymore — premiered two new songs on Sept. 7 in Boston, “Sinking Ship” and “The Color of Pain.” They’re actually very similar, both showing The Cardinals’ psych-country explorations, almost like a marriage of Crazy Horse-era Neil Young and late-’60s Grateful Dead. Both are balls-to-the-wall rockers with a hint of pedal steel and both are equally awesome.

Q-TIP “GETTIN’ UP” From the funky bass and bright piano to the sepia-toned video, Q-Tip’s “Gettin’ Up” screams nostalgia. It’s the kind of simple and fun hip-hop song that reminds you of the ’80s or early ’90s; appropriate, because it’s the former A Tribe Called Quest rapper’s first solo effort since 1999. And did we mention how sweet the video is — QTip wears a red Michael Jackson jacket and a Davey Crockett hat. Nice.

most definitely COLD: T.I. FEAT. RIHANNA “LIVIN’ MY LIFE” Apparently, it’s finally OK to sample a song more famous for a YouTube clip than its original release.

“Livin’ My Life,” off T.I.’s Paper Trail (due Sept. 30), opens with the hook from O-Zone’s “Dragostea Din Tei,” better known as the “Numa Numa” song in the viral video world.

Rihanna’s hook builds around the sample’s melody, while T.I. raps about, well, living his life. If anything, all the song does is get “Dragostea Din Tei” stuck in your head. No thanks, we’ve been through that too many times already.

KANYE WEST “LOVE LOCKDOWN” Mr. West, are you there Mr. West? You used to be a rapper, remember, Mr. West?

“Love Lockdown” is the first single off West’s newly announced 808’s & Heartbreak (due Dec. 16), and is surprisingly sparse for the college dropout. There’s subtle piano and bass that eventually builds into a percussive onslaught — a pretty nice production job, but there’s a problem: West sings the entire song in autotone. West is a rapper for a reason, and attempting to sing for the entirety of a lead single isn’t exactly the best move.

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REVIEW | NELLY

Not so ‘Hot in Herre’ Nelly’s latest is so shameful he’s going to have to hide behind more than a Band-Aid this time

BY ALEX RUSH Staff writer

Here’s a little story that must be told about a still-young rapper whose style is old.

First, flashback to the year 2000, when Nelly’s country-pop-hip-hop hybrid sounds bumped across St. Louis’ Eads Bridge and into radio speakers across the country. It was a style most had never heard before. His Midwestern drawl, infectious melodies and undeniable swagger thrust popular singles “Country Grammar,” “E.I.” and “Ride Wit Me” into the nation’s consciousness. Nelly became a pop superstar who put his Missouri hometown on the rap map.

Nelly followed his debut album with numerous memorable hits that cemented him as one of hip-hop’s trend-setters: In 2002, “Hot in Herre” became the anthem for sweaty people who dry-hump in clubs, and the single’s video inspired plenty of wannabes to wear white Band-Aids under their eyes. Three years later, “Grillz” summed up the gold and platinum teeth trend and “Over and Over,” a collaboration with country star Tim McGraw, is arguably the oddest hit duet in recent memory. To date, Nelly has sold more than 30 million albums and has even copped a couple of Grammys.

But it has been four years since Nelly released an album, and as the late, great Notorious B.I.G. once said, “things done changed.”

Rappers are singing less (whatever happened to Ja Rule?) and new lyrical fads, such as songs about the trap (the Atlanta drug scene), dope boys and skateboarding, are dominating radio, MTV and clubs. Nelly’s novelty, his Midwest swing, is yesterday’s news. So with his fifth album, Brass Knuckles, can he progress and stay relevant to the fickle hiphop world?

Unfortunately, Nelly does not reinvent himself on Brass Knuckles, and his old tricks don’t incite any musical magic. The album is filled with generic beats, mundane rhymes and typical collaborations. In fact, there’s a sense of deja vu surrounding the entire record.

On “L.A.,” which features Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, Nelly proves that he’s been using his grill to bite other artists’ concepts. Twista (“Had to Call”), Ludacris (“Living the Life”) and plenty of others have already tried this type of G-Funk, California homage to the

aforementioned West Coast kings. Nelly’s lyrics show no passion for the City of Angels — it seems as if he is just rapping about it because he booked Snoop and Nate for his album.

Nelly is also trumped on the hype track “Hold Up,” which features T.I. and L.L. Cool J guesting. He should never have put those superior lyricists on a song because they outshine him.

Nelly just can’t knock anything out on Brass Knuckles. When his flow is at its most energetic, such as on “Long Night,” an R&B song that features Usher, the hooks are weak.

Catchier songs, such as “Body on Me” and “One and Only,” are reminiscent of late’90s boy band tunes.

On the lead-single, “Party People,” a call-and-response-type song with Southern stomp-music drums, Fergie raps just as well as Nelly does (not supposed to happen!).

Even “Stepped on my J’z,” where Nelly professes his love for Nike Jordans, is just a half-assed version of “Air Force Ones.”

Brass Knuckles is so lackluster, it’s actually remarkable the album got released at all (especially considering it went through several delays).

When Nelly burst onto the rap scene eight years ago, other artists were pushed out of the way to make room.

Now, music has come full circle, and Nelly’s pimp juice has run dry. When it comes to his career, he should take the advice of one of Brass Knuckles’ tracks and just “Let It Go.” arush@umd.edu

ALBUM: Brass Knuckles | VERDICT:

MUSIC NOTE: PINK FLOYD’S RICHARD WRIGHT DIES Less than a week after David Gilmour said a future Pink Floyd reunion was unlikely, Floyd fans were dealt a much more disparaging blow. Founding keyboardist Richard Wright succumbed to cancer yesterday at 65. Wright's most recognizable Floyd contributions came on Dark Side of The Moon and Wish You Were Here (he cowrote "Us and Them"). There's no word yet on a possible tribute from Floyd's three surviving members, but for now Wright has gone on to the great gig in the sky.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

9

Turner shows off efficiency TURNER, from Page 10 Turner, who was inaccurate against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and didn’t complete his first pass until late in the second quarter, hit on his first five passes Saturday in leading the Terps on three consecutive touchdown drives.

After Turner hit tight end Dan Gronkowski for a 1-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter to cap a 14-play, 60-yard drive, the Terps had a 21-3 lead. “[Turner] was on today,” said Gronkowski, who scored his first touchdown since Oct. 28, 2006. “He was seeing the field and checking down. We were coming open, and he was making the plays.”

Turner passed for almost half of his yards in the first quarter as the Terps jumped out to the big lead. Later, he deferred to running backs Da’Rel Scott and Davin Meggett, who combined for 169 yards and three touchdowns, as the Terps put away the Golden Bears.

Turner said he started feeling more comfortable in Franklin’s offense at practice and just needed to take Friedgen’s advice.

The strategy worked, especially when it was most critical: on third downs. Turner was 7-for-8 passing on third downs. Six of the completions resulted in first downs,

2 0 0 8

“If we don’t stop ourselves, no one’s going to stop us.

It’s all about us” DAN GRONKOWSKI SENIOR TIGHT END

Chris Turner was 7-for-8 on third downs in the Terps’ surprising victory Saturday against Cal. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

including three on the 14-play touchdown drive.

“The West Coast offense is all about timing and progressions,” Turner said. “I was trying to make sure I didn’t change anything in the game.”

The result was a Terp

offense that put up more points than in their first two games combined.

They punted just four times and could have had more points if not for a pair of fumbles and Obi Egekeze’s fifth missed field goal of the season.

T E R R A P I N

“If we don’t stop ourselves, no one’s going to stop us,” Gronkowski said. “It’s all about us. If we go out and have some bad throws or miss a block, we’re going to stop ourselves.

That’s all that can stop us.”

And it’s all about Turner playing with poise and making good decisions in Franklin’s controlled West Coast system.

The California native has shown he can win big games.

In 14 career games, he has led the Terps to three wins against ranked opponents.

He’s also lost games to North Carolina and Middle Tennessee.

Consistency is the key to success for the Terp offense this season, and Friedgen said it needs to start now.

“This is a game that should give Chris confidence,” Friedgen said. “It’s something he can build on, but he’s got to come out next week and play the same way.” edetweilerdbk@gmail.com

Y E A R B O O K

Here’s the Scoop on Senior Pictures!

Senior Pictures for the 2009 Terrapin Yearbook will be taken for three weeks, September 22-October 10, 2008, by Carl Wolf Studio. Six to eight poses will be taken, including an optional cap and gown shot, and it only takes five minutes!

The photo session doesn't cost you a cent, and guarantees you a place in the 2009 TERRAPIN, all at no cost. You select the pose to be published in the 2009 TERRAPIN to preserve and recognize your college memories. CWS offers a wide variety of excellent, quality photographs at reasonable prices. Students often find these portraits make great gifts and help resumes and job applications.

AND . . . You Can Win $200, $300, EVEN $500!!

At the conclusion of the photo sessions every senior photographed will be entered in a drawing. 1st place will win $500, 2nd place wins $300 and 3rd place wins $200. And, since we don’t want you to wait ‘til the last minute to get your picture taken, each senior photographed during the first week, 9/22–9/26, will be entered three times in the drawing. Get your picture taken 9/29–10/3, you’ll receive two chances and if you wait until the third week, 10/6–10/10, you’ll get only one chance. So why wait? Call today and make an early appointment!

SAVE $12!!

Save $12 on your 2009 Terrapin Yearbook if you purchase one when you get photographed.

WHAT TO DO? Call 1-800-687-9327 between 8am-5pm to schedule your most convenient time for an appointment, or visit our website at ouryear.com (school code: 87101) and make your appointment online! We’ll be shooting September 22-October 10, MondayFriday, 11am-7pm in room 3101 South Campus Dining Hall (Terrapin Yearbook Office).

CALL 1-800-687-9327

BETWEEN 8AM-5PM TODAY TO MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT! OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT

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(SCHOOL CODE: 87101) AND MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT ONLINE! 3101 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL SEPTEMBER 22-OCTOBER 10, 2008 • 11AM-7PM

Defender A.J. Delagarza plays the role of last line of defense often for the Terps, and knows how important that role is in the clutch after two-straight NCAA heartbreaks. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

Wallace coming into his own on defense DEFENSE, from Page 10

a wide variety of skills and athletic abilities, and we’re To Delagarza, Friday’s 1- still trying to find ways to 0 win signaled a turning use all of those.”

As for Gonzalez, his skills point for the defense when it comes to holding late- and physical ability at 6foot-5 are well known and game leads.

“I kind of looked at it like appreciated by his teamthat,” Delagarza said. “I mates.

“We know each other so was telling myself, ‘Just hold them here, and we can well that if Omar is going pick up the pieces that we for a head ball, I know I’m left from last year and two confident that he’s gonna win the ball,” Delagarza years ago.’”

According to coach Sasho said. “I think we all believe Cirovski, the defense is play- in each other, and that’s the main part to our ing better than it defense right now.” was at this time last While both Delayear, even after losgarza and Gonzalez ing captain Spencer admitted they need Allen. to communicate Delagarza joins more at times, the Rich Costanzo and confidence they 2007 ACC Defenhave in each other sive Player of the has made them betYear Omar Gonzater, even if they still lez at the core of remember the sudthe unit.

The den death losses. newest addition, “As a player, you sophomore Rodney always have to have Wallace, is filling some kind of swagin at left back for OMAR ger that comes injured senior GONZALEZ along with you,” Michael Marchi- JUNIOR DEFENDER Gonzalez said. “You ano, who hasn’t played this season because have to act like it’s your game, and you have to go out of an ankle injury.

But Wallace’s relative there and give it your all.”

That effort was on display inexperience hasn’t been a problem so far for a defense Friday. As the No. 9 Eagles that has allowed just three increased their offensive pressure down a goal in the goals in five games.

Last season, Wallace was second half, it was the play the backline that used on the back line before of shifting up to his natural reversed the momentum midfield position, where he and helped the Terps hold scored seven goals in the on for the win.

“I would say we’re like a second half of the year.

“He’s done very well. He little unit on our own, but gives us an attacking threat, we’re also part of a big unit, and he’s an extremely tena- the whole team,” Gonzalez cious competitor,” Cirovski said. “We’re the last line of said. “I honestly think he defense, and we always has the potential to become stand by each other.” the best left back in the country. He’s a guy that has akrautdbk@gmail.com

“We’re the last line of defense, and we always stand by each other.”

Meharg confident her team learned lesson after loss SYRACUSE, from Page 10 took control. For us, it’s a problem when we’re not in control of the game pace.”

The Terps’ fate was sealed in the 63rd minute, when Syracuse back Maggie Befort deflected a shot by midfielder Martina Loncarica off of a penalty corner for what proved to be the gamewinning goal.

It was a fitting end for the Terps, who watched Syracuse capitalize on two opportunities while they squandered all 12 of their penalty corners.

The low-scoring affair was somewhat of a surprise, as both teams boast prolific offensive attacks. Pressure mounted in the second half, as the minutes melted away and both teams remained goalless.

Syracuse broke through in the 43rd minute, as Loncarica slipped into the scoring circle and cranked a backhand shot that sailed into the air and passed goalkeeper Alicia Grater.

The goal put the Terps in an unfamiliar position.

“Obviously, that was the first time we were behind in a game [this season],” back Susie Rowe said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, well, we definitely have to get a goal now.’ [After the

goal] we were going for broke pretty much, whereas in the beginning, we were a little hesitant.”

In the end, it didn’t pay off.

Syracuse goalkeeper Heather Hess stifled the Terps with 10 saves, three in the first half and seven in the second half.

“They just didn’t give us any time, any space,” Rowe said. “I was marked out of the game. They closed us down immediately. That pressure, they were in your face.”

Players admitted it was a little odd to lose this early in the season. The Terps started last year 16-0 before finally falling to North Carolina on Oct. 20.

Meharg said the Terps will use this game as a reminder of the concentration they need to show, game in and game out.

“We talked [after the game] about preparing for the game the minute you get here in the morning,” Meharg said. “I know that they are college students and that’s all great, but we have to learn to focus and do what’s at task so that you feel good about all the hard work and sacrifice[s] you make to be a student athlete. I think that was a good lesson.” mkatzdbk@gmail.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

Associated Press NCAA Football Top 10

Sports

School 1. USC 2. Oklahoma 3. Georgia 4. Florida 5. Missouri

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School 6. LSU 7. Texas 8. Wisconsin 9. Alabama 10. Auburn

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2008

FIELD HOCKEY

“

I watched Chris make sense [Saturday]. He was just going through his progressions and taking what the defense was giving.

Terps lacked focus in loss to Syracuse

”

Turnaround Turner

From the start, Orange controlled pace Saturday

After perhaps his worst performance as a Terp, Chris Turner stepped up and led his team to victory Saturday

BY MICHAEL KATZ Staff writer

The Terrapin field hockey team looked preoccupied Saturday as the floundering Terps sent errant passes sailing out of bounds in a loss to Syracuse.

As it turns out, that may have been just the case.

“We had some distractions [Saturday],” coach Missy Meharg said. “We had the football game and I know [Friday] morning when we did our skills, the kids were in the locker room talking about who was going to be at the game.”

Whatever the reason, the Terps (5-1) did not play like the No. 1 team in the country — a distinction the team will likely lose when the STX/NFHCA rankings are released today.

In the first half, the Terps offense was sloppier than the tailgating fans outside the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex. No. 7 Syracuse, by contrast, came out gunning for the upset.

The half ended in a scoreless tie, and despite the uninspired effort, the Terps held an 8-6 shot advantage. But the Orange looked fearless on the nation’s top-ranked team’s home turf.

“They had control of the game from the first whistle,” forward Sarah Scholl said.

“They were going after every 50-50 ball; every shot was theirs; and I think they just

Please See SYRACUSE, Page 9

BY ERIC DETWEILER Senior staff writer

After seeing the tape of the Terrapin football team’s Sept. 6 loss at Middle Tennessee, offensive coordinator James Franklin pinpointed eight plays that should’ve resulted in touchdowns.

The Terps scored just two touchdowns in the game and could not overcome quarterback Chris Turner’s three interceptions in the 24-14 loss.

Turner knew all that when he took to the practice field last week.

And it was more than enough to get the junior signal caller’s attention.

“I watched the film last week, and I realized there were so many open plays that could’ve been made,” Turner said. “If we made those plays, we probably would’ve gotten the win. I focused on that.”

Turner, not normally known as a great practice player, impressed ADAM FRIED/ THE DIAMONDBACK

Vet defense wants no repeats No. 8 Terps’ toptier back row takes pride in Saturday’s BC shutout

BY AARON KRAUT Senior staff writer

Defender A.J. Delagarza still thinks about it, almost two years later.

In his sophomore season, the Terrapin men’s soccer team allowed a game-winning goal against Notre Dame in the 2006 NCAA tournament. The shot that would get past goalkeeper Chris Seitz and end the Terps’ season went right between Delagarza’s legs.

In 2007, it happened again.

The Terps’ season ended in last year’s NCAA tournament by virtue of another sudden-death goal, this time from Bradley.

As Delagarza and the rest of

- Terp coach Ralph Friedgen

Rodney Wallace has shifted to defense again this season, where he joined three of the Terps’ most experienced players. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

2008

MEN’S SOCCER

the No. 8 Terps (4-1-0) gear up for another run at the national championship, the senior said the Terp backline, the most experienced unit on the team, is using those memories as

inspiration.

“Just thinking about that is motivation for every single game, every single second of the game,” Delagarza said.

“In the [Boston College] game, we were just trying to kill ourselves, just trying to hold the lead.”

Please See DEFENSE, Page 9

2008 FOOTBALL coach Ralph Friedgen with his midweek work preparing for Saturday’s game against No. 23 Cal. Then he silenced his critics with a workmanlike performance, completing 15-of-19 passes for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns with no interceptions to lead the Terps (2-1) to a 35-27 upset win.

Friedgen pulled Turner aside Thursday, pushing his quarterback to translate the solid work in practice to Saturday’s game. Turner did just that, running Franklin’s offense more effectively than at any point in the first-year coordinator’s short tenure.

“I watched Chris make sense [Saturday],” Franklin said. “He was just going through his progressions and taking what the defense was giving.”

Please See TURNER, Page 9