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6, OUR 109th
‘Psychopath’
ISSUE NO.
YEAR
Players and parents shed light on the football team’s culture under DJ Durkin. SPORTS, PG 12
Monday, October 1, 2018
‘DJ cares’ As DJ Durkin remains on leave, several highprofile boosters have his back. SPORTS, PG 12
advocacy
HANNAH ROBINSON, a sophomore Jewish studies major, was arrested in Washington, D.C. during a protest against Supeme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. julia lerner/the diamondback
‘A good place to make noise’ By Arya Hodjat | @arya_kidding_me | Staff writer
On Thursday, University of Maryland student Hannah Robinson marched in the pouring rain from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the Supreme Court building to protest Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. She reached the pool at about 12:30 p.m., and a group of about 60 protesters began to make their way to the nation’s highest court. Hours later, she found herself in handcuffs, arrested for civil disobedience for sitting on the street outside the court, she said. “It was really empowering, after a long, hard week of reading the news,” the sophomore Jewish HANNAH ROBINSON, above, was arrested in Washington, D.C., for civil disobedience while protesting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination on Thursday. photo courtesy of hannah robinson
studies major said. Robinson was arrested at about 2:30 p.m. and was bussed to a processing center in southwest Washington, D.C., she said. She had to pay a $50 fine, which was covered by protest organizers, she said. Robinson was one of many University of Maryland students captivated by Thursday’s hearings of Kavanaugh’s alleged
See kavanaugh, p. 7
Hate bias reports pile up University Police responded to racist and anti-LGBTQ writing last week Two hate bias incid e n ts h ave been reported at the University of Maryland over the past week. At 1:16 p.m. Wednesday, an employee reported to University Police that they found “offensive language against the AfricanAmerican community” written in pencil on the men’s bathroom stall wall in the Technology Advancement Program Building, said Uniby
Jermaine Rowley @_JermaineR Staff writer
versity Police spokesperson Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas. Police are unsure how long the writing was on the wall. After a picture was taken of the writing, it was removed. Last Sunday, police responded to another hate bias incident at Commons 7. A student told police that upon returning home from running an errand, they found “noninclusive, anti-LGBTQ language” written on their wall, Hoaas said. A detective has been assigned to investigate both incidents and the
calendar 2 OPINION 4 FEATURES 5 city 6 diversions 9 SPORTS 12
Office of Diversity and Inclusion has been notified. Both cases are still active. Since a string of hate bias incidents last year, the university has implemented a policy prohibiting threatening and intimidating conduct and created a hate bias incident log to monitor incidents that occur on the campus. Seven hate bias incidents have been tracked on the log since the start of the semester, including a swastika, anti-Semitic and racist virtual messages and antiLGBTQ writings. newsumdbk@gmail.com
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2 | News
monday, october 1, 2018
COMMUNITY CALENDAR CRIME BLOTTER By Jermaine Rowley | @_JermaineR | Staff writer University of Maryland Police responded to several reports of injured or sick people and an indecent exposure over the past week, among other incidents, according to police reports.
INDECENT EXPOSURE O n Sept. 29 at 2:2 4 a.m., University Police responded to the intersection of College and Hopkins Avenues, near the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house, to give support to the Prince George’s County Police Departments for reported indecent exposure. An unknown male was observed exposing himself to a student on the opposite side of the street. As the male started to walk toward the student, the student yelled at him, at which point the male ran away. He was last seen running behind a house on College Avenue in the direction of Baltimore Avenue, according to UMD Alerts. Police described the suspect as being in his l ate 20s to e a rly 30s, between 5-foot-7 and -9 and wearing a royal blue hoodie/jacket at the time, UMD Alerts indicated. County police are investigating the incident and encourage individuals with information on
the suspect to contact the department.
OTHER INCIDENT University Police responded to parking lot 17b near Old Leonardtown for an incident at 9:34 a.m. on Sept. 24, according to police logs. An employee reported to police that illegal material was inside the university’s dumpster. The case is active.
INJURED/ SICK PERSON University Police responded to an injured/sick person report in McKeldin Library on Sept.26at5:06a.m.Astudent went to a local hospital. On Sept. 25 at 11:30 a.m., University Police responded to the South Campus Dining Hall for an injured/sick person report. An employee went to a local hospital for a minor injury. At 2:10 p.m. on the same day, University Police responded to the Physical Science Complex for another injured/sick person report. An employee had a “non-lifethreatening injury.” All cases are closed, said police spokesperson Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas. newsumdbk@gmail.com
1 monday
3 wednesdaY
10% high 79° low 61°
10% high 80° low 61°
“THIS is HOME: A REFUGEE STORY” SCREENING Commons 1, Room 1102, 7 to 9 p.m. Hosted by Beyond the Classroom. go.umd.edu/UqH
TERPS TAKE CARE FAIR Hornbake Plaza, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hosted by Resident Life. facebook.com/events/266671410789820
COMEDY OPEN MIC NIGHT
SOCIAL JUSTICE HANGOUT: CULTURAL APPROPRIATION Woods Hall, Room 2101R, 1 to 3:30 p.m. Hosted by the women’s studies department. go.umd.edu/UpA
Stamp Student Union, TerpZone, 8 to 10 p.m. Hosted by Stamp Student Union. facebook.com/events/259305321578175
2 tuESDAY
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VOCES SIN FRONTERAS: LOCAL TEENS’ IMMIGRATION STORIES H.J. Patterson Hall, Atrium, 5 to 7 p.m. Hosted by the Latin American Studies Center. facebook.com/events/330235177734933
5 friday
20% high 80° low 64°
POSE SCREENING and DISCUSSION Marie Mount Hall, Room 2218, noon to 1 p.m. Hosted by the Reading Rainbow Club and the LGBT Equity Center. facebook.com/events/1903540303059558
THE HOW of HAPPINESS: THINK HAPPY, BE HAPPY Stamp Student Union, Hoff Theater, 6 p.m. Hosted by Stamp Student Union, featuring Michelle Gielan. facebook.com/events/236364417052476
6 saturday
20% high 80° low 61°
FOOTBALL at MICHIGAN ABC, noon umterps.com
4 thURSDAY
20% high 81° low 63°
GLOBAL CHALLENGES: BUILDING HEALTHY FOOD SYSTEMS Stamp Student Union, Colony Ballroom, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hosted by the agriculture and natural resources college. go.umd.edu/Uiu LEARN the FIXER’S SECRETS: A DISCUSSION with MICHAEL SITRICK Knight Hall, Eaton Theater, 4:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. Hosted by the journalism college. facebook.com/events/257266778327515 WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. ILLINOIS Ludwig Field, 6 p.m. umterps.com
7 sunday
40% high 72° low 60°
HOMECOMING COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENT Stamp Student Union, Grand Ballroom, 9:45 a.m. to Oct. 8, 6 p.m. Hosted by Terps Against Hunger. facebook.com/terpsagainsthunger WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. NORTHWESTERN Ludwig Field, 2 p.m. umterps.com
FIELD HOCKEY vs. RUTGERS Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, 4 p.m. umterps.com MEN’S SOCCER vs. MICHIGAN STATE Ludwig Field, 7 p.m. umterps.com
more online
Students say they’re not engaged in governor’s race The latest polls show Hogan in the lead. Read the full story on dbknews.com GOV. LARRY HOGAN and Democratic nominee Ben Jealous will go head to head on the ballot this November. photos courtesy of larry canner, photo illustration by julia lerner/ for the diamondback
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news | 3
obituary
‘a modern-day superman’ Former university police officer is remembered for his dynamic personality By Jermaine Rowley | @_JermaineR | Staff writer
O
ne summer night in the early 2000s, two individuals were breaking into a car around College Park. When they saw University of Maryland Police officer Lt. Shawn Elliott approaching, they started to run. Cpl. William Conaway picked up his radio and heard quick footsteps through the speaker. He heard Elliott, who would end up earning a nickname that day. “You like chasing people, so I’m going to call you Chase,” Conaway would tell Elliott after the fact. Conaway, known as a comedic presence at the police department, went by a few nicknames of his own: Bill, Steel, Motorman. He was a motorcycle officer in the department from 1983 to 2005, and he died on Sept. 17, according to a police department news release, after suffering a heart attack. He was 72. His department colleagues said they remember Conaway for his humor, his height — he was 6-foot5 — and his energy. “He was almost like a modern-
Cpl. William Conaway, posing on his UMPD motorcycle. He died on Sept. 17 at 72 after suffering a heart attack. photo courtesy of university of maryland police department day Superman,” Elliott said. His dynamic personality was well-known during his more than 20 years at the department, said Mark Sparks, a friend of Conaway’s who is a retired University Police officer. “Immediately when he went someplace, he was the center focus of whatever room he was in,” Sparks said. Sparks said he’ll also miss Conaway’s sense of humor, which often
left him with tears streaming down his face. “The thing that stands out the most to me is his ability to look at stuff and ability to put a comical spin to everything,” Sparks said. “He would start talking and get me laughing about some everyday occurrence that had happened.” Conaway was also great at establishing relationships between the police department and other groups on campus, Sparks said — better
than anyone in the department. “When we had issues with a particular group, it was always gratifying to be able to send him to talk to the group,” Sparks said. Conaway was also good with kids, his colleagues said. The police department would often gather the motorcycle officers to visit local schools. Kids would look up to Conaway in awe, Sparks said, especially since he was so tall.
“There are probably a million pictures out there of him putting a little kid on his motorcycle,” Sparks said. Conaway paid attention to the little things and cared about his coworkers, said Maj. Carolyn Consoli, another one of Conaway’s colleagues. Consoli said he’d often ask how her kids were doing, and was a comforting presence for her while she worked at the department. S h e a l so re ca l l e d Co n away getting off his motorcycle during marching band parades and humorously marching alongside the band. The Mighty Sound of Maryland will dedicate their homecoming game halftime show to Conaway, who accompanied the band to the stadium for years, according to their website. His funeral was held Sept. 24 in the Memorial Chapel. “If you had a thousand of him,” Elliott said, “[there] would probably be ... a little bit more peace in the world.”
newsumdbk@gmail.com
Organizers push for more campus lactation sites After Fiona Jardine gave Angela Roberts b i r t h two @24_angier years ago, she Staff writer noticed how inconvenient it was to pump breast milk on the University of Maryland’s campus. There wasn’t a lactation room in Hornbake Library, where Jardine’s office was located. So Jardine, an information studies doctoral student, asked the fellow graduate students she shared the office with to leave while she pumped milk for her daughter. It was uncomfortable to do while sitting in an office chair, and Jardine also had to wash her pump in a public restroom sink, since the office didn’t have its own. Now, Jardine has helped develop a university-wide survey that will assess whether more lactation rooms are needed on the campus, and how aware students, faculty
and staff are of the ones that already exist. In her seventh year on the campus, Jardine considers herself lucky compared to students and staff who don’t work near a lactation room, or have access to their own office. “You don’t want to have to walk 10 to 15 minutes to pump for 20 minutes to have to walk back again,” she said. “That’s a really big break in time.” Since Jardine’s daughter was born, more lactation rooms have been added around the campus, including in Hornbake. There are 16 rooms total, according to the university’s online map, although one in Cole Field House is closed while the building undergoes construction. The survey — which was approved Wednesday by the Institutional Review Board, an administrative body that reviews surveys with university participants to ensure they meet ethical and privacy standards
— will ask campus community members about their breastfeeding needs and their feelings on the current facilities. Tetyana Bezbabna, the assistant director for undergraduate programs at the information studies college, is usually able to pump in her office at this university’s Shady Grove campus. But when she visited the Riggs Alumni Center for a meeting in August, she was surprised to find that the building didn’t have a lactation room. She had to resort to pumping in a gender-neutral bathroom. “I assumed because that building is so innovative and they are accepting so many people over there, they would have a room for this purpose,” Bezbabna said.
Read the full story online: www.dbknews.com
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monday, october 1, 2018
4 | OPINION
Opinion EDITORIAL BOARD
OPINION 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.
column
Arya Hodjat
Ben Cooper
EDITOR IN CHIEF
MANAGING EDITOR
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR
Max Foley-Keene, Sona Chaudhary OPINION EDITOR
column
UMD needs better housing OLIVIA DELAPLAINE @ODelaplaine Columnist
Mold. No AC. High prices. Long waitlists. For University of Maryland students, housing is a major source of stress, and it shouldn’t be. Just this year, 350 of the first-year students who requested on-campus housing were placed into forced triples and makeshift rooms in lounges, while 130 were put on a waitlist. Hundreds more are now being relocated due to mold. Past incidents of burst pipes, power outages and sewage disposal issues — not to mention hate bias incidents and insensitive responses to mental health concerns — all point to this university’s inability to provide safe, quality housing for its students. Freshman psychology major Shannon Cleary, quoted in the report of mold in Elkton Hall, said it perfectly: “We should be focusing on school, not our rooms covered in mold.” Our own Department of Resident Life touts the numerous benefits of on-campus housing: easier access to academic resources, a sense of community, improved graduation rates. But relocation, harassment and sickness — on top of an average monthly
rent of $990 per month for a traditional double room — is physically, mentally and financially detrimental to students, making it increasingly difficult for them to reap those benefits. These horror stories signal that this university is not equipped to manage housing for a student population as large as ours — and we should not force it to do so. Instead, the university should strike a balance, giving students a full range of choices over where they live. Though the convenient location of on-campus housing is nice for some, not everyone wants to live with a resident assistant. While some might like the coziness of a highrise apartment, others might prefer a house with a yard. For commuters, living with family and commuting from home can provide emotional support and stability, or it can lead to traffic-induced migraines and stress. Regardless of students’ preferences, they should be able to choose what living situation is best for them. But students shouldn’t be confined to only one option. To adequately house its students, this university should continue its plan to build more on-campus housing and
Google is becoming evil
renovate existing on-campus housing, prioritizing structural improvements such as improved insulation to ensure environmental sustainability, durability and resistance to natural disasters or health hazards, and seeking funding from the state to reduce housing costs incurred by individual students, which are rarely covered by scholarships or financial aid. This university should also work with the city to provide tax incentives to developers to build affordable student housing — rather than upscale apartment complexes — and to enforce existing housing codes to ensure livable conditions. The school could also work with the state to provide vouchers to subsidize students’ housing costs, giving preference to students from low-income families who can’t rely on family assistance for rent. Pursuing a variety of these strategies will give students more agency in where they live, alleviate the on-campus housing nightmare and ensure that all students have a safe, stable, affordable — and hopefully mold-free — place that they can call home. odelaplaine15@gmail.com
column
Moral mold is taking over J-P TETI @uhactually Columnist
Ryan Romano
Past the ga te s a n d the guardhouse, past the wind tunnel and the engineering field, in the vast gulf between Looney’s Pub and the Bents-CornerstoneTurf corner of questionable choices and more questionable IDs, there is a traffic circle surrounding a grassy knoll. In the center of that knoll, there is a letter: an “M,” bold and angular and (at least in the spring and summer) alive, growing, filled to the edges with bright, cheery flowers. This beloved M circle is an icon of the University of Maryland, so I’ve always assumed the M stands for Maryland. But an email many students received on Friday from this university’s Departments of Residence Life and Residential Facilities left me wondering if it might stand for something different: mold. Mold! There’s mold in South Campus Commons and in Bel Air Hall. There’s so much mold in Elkton Hall that students in that building are being temporarily relocated to hotels so that every room can be cleaned. If anything sums up the state of this university, the country, even the world in 2018, it’s mold. Everywhere we look, on every institution and authority figure, there’s gross, unethical mold. No surface is untouched. At this university, the athletic department seems to have let a player die through neglect. Last year, 2nd Lt. Richard Collins was killed on this campus, apparently for his skin color. There are hate bias incidents all the time. The interim chief
diversity officer, who was on his own search committee, stepped down after a year and issued a reflection decrying the lack of funding for his office. This university, Hollywood, classical music, the Catholic Church, the Supreme Court, stand-up comedy and academia are full of sexual predators. Police officers kill people in their own residences and justify doing so with racialized smears. For a few weeks over the summer, we were putting children in cages, although that doesn’t seem so bad compared
columnist’s view
Everywhere we look, on every institution and authority figure, there’s gross, unethical mold. No surface is untouched. to the Saudis, who killed 40 kids by dropping a bomb on a school bus in Yemen. (The bomb was built by Lockheed Martin, a “strategic partner” of this university.) Like mold, this kind of moral rot is sickening. It makes you feel sick, sure, but casual, everyday evil also gradually destroys our moral senses. We make our peace with participating in or enabling serious wrongs, believing that if we are merely aware of a problem, that’s enough. Or we conclude that believing in anything just leads to betrayal. This generalized distrust makes it easier
for us to make bad decisions ourselves, which dulls our sensitivity further, keeping the mold growing. As Slavoj Žižek writes, “Cynical distance is just one way — one of many ways — to blind ourselves to the structuring power of ideological fantasy: even if we do not take things seriously, even if we keep an ironical distance, we are still doing them.” The effects of this sickness are now clear. Drug deaths, suicide and alcohol abuse are on the rise. A huge portion of young people say they are lonely. Women who want children can’t have them thanks to a lack of socioeconomic support. Let’s not even mention the mass shootings. But there is reason to hope. Things can be changed; it’s just going to take drastic action. The Department of Resident Life is placing the residents of an entire dorm in hotels and cleaning every room. I don’t know what the equivalent is for moral mold. There should be resignations for sure. Some people will have to go to jail; many more will have to be let out. But hand-in-hand with these things must be a serious effort to rebuild our institutions in line with the moral order. Labor unions, churches/ mosques/synagogues/etc. and even political organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America should be promoted to the extent that they unite people behind moral goods. We are living in a world of mold. A better world is possible. But like Resident Life, we need to do some remediation. jp@jpteti.com
SONA CHAUDHARY @OpinionDBK Columnist
Google is a massive enough corporation that it’s expected to operate purely on self-interest, no matter how many times it champions the principle “don’t be evil” — although it’s been retracting even this basic statement of morality from its pages. Until recently, though, it had preserved a pretense of ethics in response to the Chinese government’s virulent internet censorship. In 2010, Google stopped censoring its search engine and moved off Chinese servers. This was a significant move, considering in 2009, about onethird of searches in China were through Google. A number of Chinese citizens commended the decision, sending bouquets to the company’s office in support. It was an expression of values that Google maintained for years, until a memo leaked last month that the company was developing a Chinese search engine that would not only follow censorship standards, but also track user activity and location. The company’s employees have protested the lack of transparency about this project; at the same time, its human resources department has tried to delete its traces. It’s a reneging that Google hasn’t even attempted to justify. And a couple of days ago, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted the internet would eventually split into two tracks, one led by America and the other by China, which presented “real danger” from the differing governments and policies regarding access and censorship. There’s a full arc connecting Google’s present moves toward China and this disjointed future projection. It’s another dishonest — but no more surprising — act for Google to deny it. A split internet could create competing spheres of influence; a Chinese internet that spreads within the region means the transfer of tools to limit people’s access to information and right to privacy. Whereas
the internet was conceived as a network to connect people and broaden access to resources, this would be a minimizing and easily exploited way of pushing users toward one constructed truth or understanding of the world. While vaunting messages about a commitment to privacy and ethics in America, Google is working to specifically undermine those principles overseas. It becomes another tool for the oppression of Chinese citizens through lack of moral direction. The Chinese government is thus given free reign to shape an internet that works for them and targets dissenters because Google offers their services without any real reservation as long as the profit is there. In a 2009 interview, Schmidt said, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” This is supposedly one of the principles behind surveillance-heavy regimes, but the primary good of privacy is that it protects you from malicious actors. People don’t want their information going to the wrong places, and in China, the government can easily be one of the wrong places. There’s no way Google doesn’t understand this. They profit off data, and they clearly understand that the Chinese government doesn’t act in the best interest of its citizens. By underhandedly supporting China’s oppressive government with their products, Google abandons even the pretense of caring about consumer privacy, quality of life and safety. The free exchange of information represented by the internet is thus split based on private interests, and it’s disingenuous for Google to say this division of the web is just another inevitable thing on the horizon for the digital age when that’s a future it’s actively building. By disaffiliating itself from any sort of moral core, Google is setting itself to face some monsters in the coming decades. sonachaud@gmail.com
column
In defense of the rain tax ALYSSA MCKINNEY @OpinionDBK Columnist
Back in 2012, the Maryland General Assembly introduced a fee on impervious surfaces, designed to reduce runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. It was nicknamed the “rain tax” and quickly became one of the most hated and ridiculed taxes in state history. Originally, the more urban counties of Maryland were required to implement this fee, but in 2015 it became optional as long as each county demonstrated plans to reduce runoff. Gov. Larry Hogan campaigned on affordability and repealing taxes — particularly this stormwater management fee — during the election against Anthony Brown in 2014, and he’s emphasizing the same points in his current campaign against Ben Jealous. Because the fee was made optional and never really repealed, some think Jealous could leverage this point against Hogan’s tax-cutting campaign. But was the tax really that bad to begin with? Stormwater runoff carries harmful pollutants such as fertilizer, pet waste, trash and car emissions into our waterways. It not only affects the rivers and streams it travels through, but also the Chesapeake Bay, damaging our marine life as well as our economy. While pollution and trash are obvious detriments to keeping our water clean, a more hidden killer is the large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus deposited in the bay from stormwater run-off. This feeds algal blooms that block sunlight from reaching marine plants and reduce the oxygen in the water needed to support life. With the amount of water-resistant land in the state, one storm can have a massive effect on the health of the bay that would take an enormous amount of
time and money to repair. Along the coast of the Carolinas, Hurricane Florence sent floods of coal ash, animal waste and fertilizer into the local waterways. Even as we missed the worst of Florence, the storm took a toll on the bay — the Conowingo Dam was opened to lower the Susquehanna River’s water levels, sending sediment and debris down into the Chesapeake. It’s certainly difficult to reduce the areas that won’t let water pass that already exist, but taxing them can bring awareness to the issue and make us more mindful about our development and land-use. It adds economic incentive for companies and individuals alike to design their properties to use less surface area and to use new technologies such as permeable pavement. It also encourages much-needed changes to our current surfaces, such as constructing rain gardens and building green roofs that help absorb the rain. Perhaps most significantly, the money collected from these fees can fund stream and wetland restoration programs, maintain stormwater management facilities and promote other activities that reduce stormwater runoff. The Chesapeake Bay Program is an essential component of bay restoration, but it was recently threatened by a 90 percent budget cut. While Congress approved full funding through the end of the fiscal year, that might not always be the case. We need our government to guarantee that the bay — our wildlife, economy and identity — will be protected. We need to start making more of an effort to reduce inaccessible surfaces and stormwater runoff. As strange as the “rain tax” sounds, it is actually a good idea. alyssa.cmck@gmail.com
MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018
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6 | news
$4 million tax cut for Route 1 apartments Council voted 7-0 for complex including retail space by
The rede-
been vacant for about a year. A
fire shut down Plato’s Diner, velopment Jeff Barnes @thejeffbarnes project for and Quality Inn closed last fall. The redevelopment of the the former Staff writer Quality Inn and Plato’s Diner site on Route 1 took a big step forward on Tuesday, as the College Park City Council adopted a plan that would allow a $4 million tax credit to a development company. The council voted 7-0, with one abstention, to adopt the resolution, which would provide the Bozzuto Development Company with a 60 percent tax cut over 15 years to build an apartment complex with retail spaces on the site. District 1 Councilman Fazlul Kabir abstained. About a dozen city residents spoke during a public hearing Tuesday, with mixed reactions to the redevelopment plan. Some residents, like former District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich, spoke in favor of the proposed tax credit. Stullich said such an incentive is necessary to attract new businesses and residents to the city. “There’s a hunger in College Park for better quality development, better quality restaurants, and the only way we can support that is if we do attract new homeowners with a different mix of housing that will appeal to them,” Stullich said. “Without the tax credit, we won’t get that.” The site, at the corner of Guilford Drive and Route 1, has
site, which is expected to cost between $140 million and $150 million, would be the latest major project for the city, as it aims to become a top-20 college town by 2020. The new project would include 393 residential units and between 60,000 and 70,000 square feet of retail space. Bozzuto managing director Jeff Kayce said that it will aim to attract permanent College Park residents. Developers have also said they’re looking to bring a “fitnessoriented” business to the site. Once Bozzuto finalizes its funding, the development company could break ground within a year, Kayce said. The project is expected to be completed about 28 months from when construction begins. In adopting the resolution, the city created two levels of development tax credits. A “Level One” tax credit would be similar to the city’s current property tax credit program, which offers a tax credit up to 75 percent over five years, with a 15 percent decrease annually during the five-year period. A “Level Two” tax credit, such as the one approved for this project, allows a tax credit up to 60 percent for up to 15 years for qualifying projects. See tax , p. 7
GO COLLEGE PARK
carlo colella, this university’s administration and finance vice president, discusses the Calvert Road center during the meeting. elliot scarangello / the diamondback
Mixed feelings on child care center University reviewed designs at a community meeting Wednesday TheUniversity of MaryJeff Barnes @thejeffbarnes land presented design plans Staff writer for a proposed child care center on Calvert Road in a community meeting on Wednesday, drawing mixed reactions from city residents. The project, estimated in 2015 to cost about $5.7 million, is now expected to cost about $6.9 million, according to university administration and finance vice president Carlo Colella. Because of the increased costs, Colella said, space for staff and support had to be reduced about 2,600 square feet to get closer to budget. Located on the former site of the Friends Community School, the building has been mostly unused since 2007. As part of a long-term lease agreement with the city, 14 of the 120 seats of the new child care center will be guaranteed to College Park residents who are not university employees. University employees who by
are also residents of the city, university employees that do not reside in the city and the general public — in that order — will be next in line for spots. City residents like Cameron Easter expected a more inclusive and versatile use of the dilapidated building. “From our perspective, as land owners and residents of the neighborhood, we wanted to make a building that looks vacant useful to both the university and the community,” said the District 3 resident, who is also a 2005 graduate of this university. “Essentially, you’re making a vacant building in our neighborhood a giant daycare for employees of the university.” Colella defended the plans for the child care center, saying the university wanted to partner with the city to fulfill the community’s desire for more childcare. “The university could have chosen on its own land to build a facility of this cost and that wouldn’t have advanced the
shared goal we have to create together a great college town,” Colella said. Other residents attending the Calvert Hills Citizens Association expressed dissatisfaction with the architectural design and aesthetic of the new child care center. In the proposed design plans, the existing and historical two-story brick structure on the site will be completely restored, while the non-historical, one-story addition will be demolished and rebuilt with a contrasting, more contemporary look. Neighborhood residents said they were disappointed the design plans did not make better use of the building’s one-story addition and voiced their displeasure with the proposed design. “It kind of reads to me as an inexpensive add-on,” District 3 resident Lisa Fischer said of the modern addition. “This, to me, looks like an afterthought.” Fo r m e r D i s t r i c t 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich spoke in favor of the design, citing what she said is the “crumbling and
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deteriorating” conditions of the current building. “It has been a long and hard road,” said Stullich, who has worked since 2015 to help bring the new child care center to fruition. Colella said the project is currently being prepared for the construction phase, adding that he expects the project to be completed late next year. The city council narrowly approved the proposal in March 2017, with Mayor Patrick Wojahn casting the deciding vote. “Imagine the sounds of children playing on this site after so many years of it being pretty much in disrepair,” Colella said. “We’re pretty psyched about that.” Although opinions varied on the project, Calvert Hills Citizens Association President Stuart Adams said that, overall, the new child care center would be a welcome addition to the community. “The consensus is we are excited to have it here,” Adams said. “We’re excited for this.”
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news | 7
science
bundle of nerves University researchers found a brain circuit potentially responsible for extreme anxiety By Zoe Rader | @Zoe__Rader | Staff writer Before University of Maryland student Chris Hawes was diagnosed with social anxiety during his junior year of high school, he didn’t understand why he’d “shut down” and sometimes experienced panic attacks when he went out in public. “I didn’t really know what it was at the time — I just thought it was shyness,” said Hawes, a sophomore English education major. “Any type of gathering was a problem to me, like sometimes just going to restaurants or grocery stores.” Recently, researchers at this university discovered a brain circuit that can be responsible for the transmission of extreme anxiety disorders like Hawes’ from parents to children. The findings, which are the culmination of an 11-year study, explore why “anxious parents are more likely to have children who are anxious themselves,” said Alex Shackman, a psychology professor
KAVANAUGH From p. 1 sexual misconduct in a Montgomery County bedroom. Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982, when the two were high school students in Bethesda, Maryland. Kavanaugh and Ford both testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. A Bethesda native herself, Robinson said the hearing hit home in more ways than one. She interned for one of Ford’s lawyers, Debra Katz, in January 2018. “A lot of women around
at this university and a collaborator on the project. Previously, the underlying causes of the heritability of extreme anxiety were largely a mystery to researchers. The discovery of the circuit, which explains why some anxiety disorders can be genetically inherited, could revolutionize treatment by providing a new target for medicine and therapy, Shackman said. While neither of Hawes’ parents have anxiety, he said he’s very concerned about how his disorder could affect his children if he were to have kids. “That’s always been a big thought of mine,” he said. “Sometimes I think, ‘If I do have a child, will they have this problem?’” Anxiety affects roughly 1 in 5 people, causing “worldwide suffering and disability,” according to the results of the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience in July. Christina Danko, a licensed clini-
the country have felt angry and really powerless this week,” Robinson said. “It’s become clear what a lot of men in power think. I’m really pissed off.” Fo rd wa s t h e f i rs t to come forward with allegations of assault by Kavanaugh, who was nominated in July by President Trump to replace retiring associate justice Anthony Kennedy. Since Ford’s letter — originally sent confidentially to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (DCalif.), in July — leaked to the public, two additional women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, have come forward with similar accusations. Rosie Wilson, vice president of this university’s College Republicans, said she believed both Ford and
cal psychologist and research professor at this university, said that while there are several different types of anxiety disorders — such as separation anxiety, social anxiety and general anxiety disorder — they all share some common characteristics. “Overall, anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive worries and obsessive concerns that have a significant impact on the adult or child’s life,” Danko said. Sometimes, she added, they can be diagnosed at a young age and treated with counseling and medication. Hawes, for instance, takes medication and saw a counselor for about two years in high school. “It’s definitely better after the medicine and counseling,” Hawes said. “I can handle anxiety attacks and I’m not worried about going out in public.” Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, a
Kavanaugh. “I believe [Ford’s] accusations of being sexually assaulted, but I also believe Judge Kavanaugh is not the one who did it,” the junior environmental science and policy major said. “She’s brave for reporting on something so incredibly traumatic … but it makes me pretty mad because she is being used as a partisan pawn.” Bailey Dinman and Michelle Garda, both students at this university, took to the streets Thursday, too. The pair hoisted signs that said “Believe Women” and “KavaNOPE” as they worked their way inside the Dirksen S e n a te O f f i c e B u i l d i n g alongside a group of survivors and advocates from all over the country. “It was probably the best
psychology professor who also conducts research on young children with anxiety, said counselors and psychologists want to prevent anxiety disorders from holding people back. “We’re not trying to change people’s personality, but we’re trying to help kids do the things they want to do,” she said. “Sometimes kids with anxiety might change their major, because they don’t want to give talks.” The research was mainly funded by grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health and included the collaboration of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California, Davis and UMD, Shackman said. To conduct the study, rhesus monkeys were placed in comfortable testing cages and an experimenter would enter the room, come fairly close to the cage and “very intentionally not make eye contact” with
day of my life,” said Garda, a junior international business and public policy major. “Being there myself was so powerful. … Seeing all these people that don’t agree with him come together, I think that’s comforting in itself.” Dinman said the fact Ford got a hearing was a positive step in itself. “You can’t ignore women anymore,” said Dinman, a senior government and politics major. Emily Kaplan is working to ensure that. Last year, the senior economics and government and politics major co-founded this university’s chapter of Ignite, a group empowering women to run for office. She said she saw parallels in these hearings with the 1991 hearings of Anita Hill, who accused
the monkeys, Shackman said. This “threatening” action would either induce anxiety or apathy in the monkeys. The researchers conducted these procedures to quantify and study the anxiety levels of the monkeys and their mothers. Researchers also performed Functional MRI testing to see which regions of the brain are connected during anxietyheightened scenarios and search for links between mothers and babies, Shackman said. Danko said the results of the study give her hope for the future of treating and conquering anxiety disorders. “I think there’s been a lot of great research being done looking at the biological substrates of how it is passed on,” she said. “Knowing more about the relationship helps move the field forward.”
then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. While Thomas was confirmed to the court, the next year’s elections saw a thenrecord number of women elected to the Senate. “ I t h i n k t h e t i d e s a re similar to 1992,” Kaplan said. “There’s still a huge underrepresentation of women in Congress.” Sydney Poretsky, this university’s College Democrats president, said after viewing the hearings she wasn’t convinced the country had changed since 1992. Poretsky went to the HoltonArms School in Bethesda — the same all-girls school that Ford attended when Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her. “What happened to Dr.
newsumdbk@gmail.com
Ford could’ve happened to me or one of my classmates,” Poretsky said. “It still happens. It’s a culture that doesn’t seem to have changed much since the 80s.” Sophia Blake, a junior communication major and assistant president of Preventing Sexual Assault, said the hearings emphasized the need for more support for assault survivors, including more streamlined Title IX procedures at this university. “If we can start on our campus, it’ll be a domino effect. We’re so close to D.C.,” said Blake. “We’re in such a good place to make n o i s e a b o u t t h e s e l e ga l issues because we’re at the heart of what’s happening right now.” newsumdbk@gmail.com
TAX
more than student-centered,” Colella said. “This, in my view, is From p. 6 not taking money away from the Oscar Gregory, a District 4 city or its residents, but it’s using resident,said he wasn’t impressed some of the incremental taxes to with the plans for redevelop- be able to make the project viable.” Initially, the developer sought ment. Gregory called the plans an “atrocity”and said the city should a 75 percent tax credit to help fabe using tax revenue to fix its aging cilitate the project, but in January, infrastructure instead of trying to the city countered with a 50 percent credit. Kayce said the 60 attract new developers. “While the infrastructure in percent tax credit was “the bare our city neighborhoods — such minimum” needed to help secure the $50 million as water,gas and in equity investelectric lines ment he said is and roads and necessary to bridges — are fundtheproject. decaying, our The value of city keeps inthe tax credit viting developa wa rd e d to ers to line their Bozzuto is based pockets with on the assessed profits that othprojected value erwise would be of the proppaid in their fair erty. Over the share of taxes,” course of the Gregory said. Carlo Colella, former district 3 councilwoman 15-year plan, the city would the University of Maryland’s vice president for ad- collect the base property tax for ministration and finance,said this the property, but just 40 percent university is “strongly in favor” of the incremental property tax of the redevelopment and as- revenue based on the increased sociated tax credit. Colella said value of the property because of that residents should not view the redevelopment. College Park would see an inthe tax credit in terms of taking money from the city and cited crease of 227 percent in property its importance in attracting new taxrevenueincomparisontowhat it would have received over the development. “The market, as it is, doesn’t next 15 years if both the Quality bring about the kinds of devel- Inn and Plato’s Diner remained opment projects that ensure that operational,according to the term we have year-round residents to sheet provided by the council. support activity and make the downtown area, in particular, newsumdbk@gmail.com
There’s a hunger in College Park for better quality development. Stephanie Stullich
8 | News
Monday, October 1, 2018
science and technology
up in
vapor Univ study says e-cig’s fruity flavors are a gateway to nicotine addictions By Grace Mottley | @gracemott17 | Staff writer A STUDENT is pictured using a JUUL. According to a new study from the public health school, 8 percent of young adults in the United States from 18 to 24 years old have used e-cigarettes in the last month. elliot scarangello/the diamondback
K
rista Olson stands in the smoking section outside of University of Maryland’s McKeldin Library, holding a lit cigarette between her fingers. Her e-cigarette sits ready for use in her pocket as she takes a drag of something she’s trying to quit. Olson, a senior Spanish major, uses her e-cigarette to save a little money and help wean herself off cigarettes — and the fruity flavors that come with e-cigarettes help, she said. “I switched to e-cigarettes after I started smoking,” she said. “I like cigarettes better, but the e-liquid definitely tastes better.” But for other e-cigarette users, the fruity flavors are the reason they
get addicted to nicotine in the first place, according to a new public health school study. The study, which was released earlier this month, said 8 percent of young adults in the United States from the ages of 18 to 24 used e-cigarettes in the preceding month. Sixty-nine percent of those users chose vapor products with sweet flavors, such as cherry, cake or mango, Julia Chen, the study’s lead researcher, wrote in the study. Though e-cigarettes were initially developed to wean people off of cigarettes by slowly decreasing nicotine levels, Chen said the taste of some vapor products, particularly mint and tobacco flavors,
attract young adults who are not already cigarette smokers and get them addicted to nicotine. Junior government and politics major Spencer Blumberg uses ecigarettes for that purpose — to quit smoking cigarettes. “When I started JUULing, I bought the mint pods and still use them to this day,” Blumberg said. “With [the JUUL] I’ve never really had the inkling to use [cigarettes].” Chen said this increase in e-cigarette use stems from peer influence and social media pressure. “[Younger people] see them on social media, for example Instagram has many many channels about JUULs, and after that they’ll maybe go pick one up,” Chen said.
“It’s because [e-cigarettes] are also considered a cool behavior, and they want to impress their peers and follow a trend.” Carly Polejes, a sophomore criminology and criminal justice major, said she sees this trend in her peers’ behaviors, and thinks peer influence encourages others to buy e-cigarettes. “It’s the status quo,” she said. “If everyone has them and you’re out and you try one and you keep trying it, it turns into you’re always using your friends’ and then you just get one.” Chen hopes that this study will help lead to more messaging about e-cigarette dangers, which include an increased risk
for cigarette smoking and exposure to chemicals that cause cancer later in life, she said. E-cigarettes have harmful chemicals and nicotine and can harm developing brains, create addictive tendencies and hurt respiratory health, according to the U.S. Surgeon General. With the release of this study, Chen hopes that different groups will be able to create public health programs to lower the use of e-cigarettes in previous non-smokers. “We need to have corresponding public health messages and interventions to target high risk groups and tell them e-cigarettes are not healthy for you,” she said.
“It’s the status quo. If everyone has them and you’re out and you try one and you keep trying it, it turns into you’re always using your friends’, and then you just get one.” - SOPHOMORE CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE MAJOR CARLY POLEJES
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STEW AND THE NEGRO PROBLEM 10/19 • 8PM
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monDAY, october 1, 2018
diversions | 9
Diversions UPCOMING EVENTS
ONE-SENTENCE REVIEW The Fillmore
Kanye West’s SNL Performance - Patrick Basler, Diversions Editor
Slash
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latinx monologues
art meets
activism Students and performers culminate for a night of culture and advocacy at Latinx Monologues By Paige Munshell | @PaigeMunshell | Staff writer
T
he University of Maryland’s sixth annual Latinx Monologues showcased a variety of art with a vibrant message — the power that comes from using culture and tradition as an act of protest and redefinition. Latinx students performed personal poetry that covered topics from the stabbing of 2nd Lt. Richard Collins to the intersection of LGBT and Latinx communities. Students spoke of how their language, ethnicity and culture have defined them. The Latinx Monologues gave students and performers the ability to define themselves in their own words. Tania Otero Martinez, a sophomore criminology and criminal justice and public policy major, performed her original poem “Niña Eres” at the event. She said the Latinx community is often left out of the political conversation. “To have students come forward,” Otero Martinez said, “it not only creates an environment for us to be able to express ourselves, but it also educates our fellow students who may not be aware of the things that we go through.” In the sixth year since they began the Latinx Monologues, the Political Latinxs United for Movement and Action in Society have continued the idea that art can be a form of protest and political action. Dancing, poetry and spoken word are all “different forms of being an activist,” said Blanca Arriola Palma, senior government and politics major and president of PLUMAS. Events like this one provide a space for Latinx students to celebrate and
express themselves freely, she said. PLUMAS began the night with an acknowledgement of the land, something applauded by performer Karla Valentina Casique, who used her poetry as a way to express creativity as well as social activism. “I like to acknowledge that this is Piscataway land,” Casique said before her performance. “This university was built on a plantation … and this institution continues to profit off … black death and black excellence.” The night of art culminated in a keynote performance by Corazón Folklórico DC, a local Folklórico group that aims to showcase their cultural knowledge and talents through traditional Mexican dance and free classes and performances. Dancers in exceptionally bright layers of clothing stomped and danced around the room, placing leis on the heads of the spectators. Men and women danced together across the stage, calling out to each other and pretending to kiss. Alejandro Góngora, who founded the group just over a year ago and serves as the board chair and producing artistic director, said he has always been drawn to learn more about his heritage and cultural identity. “For me,” Góngora said, “being a folklorista, a dancer of my heritage, is my activism.”
CORAZóN FOLKLóRICO DC, a local dance group, was one of many performers at the Latinx Monologues. paige munshell/for the diamondback polaroids courtesy of unsplash.com
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“For me, being a folklorista, a dancer of my heritage, is my activism.” - CORAZÓN FOLKLÓRICO DC FOUNDER ALEJANDRO GÓNGORA
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10 | SPORTS
monDAY, october 1, 2018
champions From p. 12 “I have faith that the committee will thoroughly investigate all these claims and issue a comprehensive report soon,” Harry Geller, a Champions Club member, wrote in a text message Sunday afternoon. “From my experience as a booster and educator close to the program, there is no toxic culture as reported and coach Durkin deserves to be reinstated as soon as possible.” Champions Club members cast doubts over the use of anonymous players as sources in the ESPN and Post reports, though some players did allow their names to be published in both of them. So while the investigation into the team’s toxic culture is ongoing, most members of the Champions Club think they know what the outcome will be. Jaklitsch confidently proclaimed that “there’s no toxic culture there,” and he feels “it’s ridiculous that [Durkin’s] not the coach right now.” That sentiment spurred the group, along with other donors, to send a letter dated Aug. 27 to the Board of Regents in support of Durkin, after the Board assumed control of the investigations. Rich Novak, a Champions Club member who played quarterback for the Terps from 1959 to 1961, said the allegations of a toxic culture are “preposterous,” and seeing the reports “made my guts sick.” “I’m sure [Maryland’s conditioning is] the same as is Ohio State or Michigan or Alabama or USC, you name them. If you’re competing in big-time athletics, you need to have good conditioning and so forth,” he said. “But toxic? And where you berate players and so forth? I’ve never seen that.”
‘DJ CARES’ Martin McNair, Jordan’s father, said on Good Morning America in August that Durkin “shouldn’t be able to work with anybody else’s kid.” McNair’s
family hired the Baltimore law firm Murphy, Falcon and Murphy, and last week the firm filed “notice of claim” forms, which allows them to seek legal action against the state but does not guarantee a lawsuit is forthcoming. Champions Club member Bob Pinkner, however, felt that was disingenuous. Pinkner pointed to the fact that Durkin spoke at McNair’s funeral, which he said Martin had asked for. “If he hated him that much and wouldn’t trust his kid with him and all that, why would he ask him to give a eulogy?” Pinkner said. “All this hatred bit came up later, was all orchestrated by [the family’s attorney] Billy Murphy.” Murphy, the senior attorney for Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The investigation into the program’s culture is expected to be complete by early October, although it doesn’t have an official release date. Harvey Sanders, a Champions Club member, says that if the investigation proves the program had a toxic culture, Durkin should be relieved of his duties. Other Champions Club members echoed that sentiment. But from what those members have seen and heard, they find the allegations hard to believe. And even after a lengthy stint on leave that has stretched well into the Terps’ season, Jaklitsch believes Durkin can still be “welcomed back by the fans, by the players, by the donors with open arms.” “Could [Durkin] have stopped what took place that day with McNair? And if the answer’s no, then I have no problem with him coming back,” Sanders said. “If the answer was yes, obviously it’s a different situation. But if you’re just saying the head coach was responsible, well, who’s responsible for the athletic department, and who’s responsible for the school?” One player interviewed Dr. Rod Walters said head trainer Wes Robinson yelled across the field to “get [McNair] the fuck up,” and another
player reported Robinson yelling to “drag his ass across the field,” corroborating the original ESPN report from August. Another player interviewed said McNair didn’t look ready for the training session. According to Walters’ report, McNair gained five percent body weight in the month leading to May 29, told trainers he hadn’t eaten since having a bowl of cereal that morning. McNair’s gallon of water, which the team provided all players, was later found unopened in his locker. Walters said McNair’s heatstroke was “atypical” but also pointed to several significant mistakes made by trainers in providing care, such as failing to take his vital signs and waiting for more than an hour before calling 911 after he first was symptomatic. “As much as we hate to say this, Jordan didn’t do what Jordan was supposed to do,” Jaklitsch said. “A trainer like Wes Robinson thinks a kid’s properly hydrated and runs a drill set up for kids that are properly hydrated, and when the kid didn’t drink the gallon he knew he had to drink, that’s going to send the wrong signal to the person running the drill.” A Washington Post report published Sunday included numerous interviews with former players and parents recalling abusive treatment that in some cases triggered depression. “It is interesting to note that every negative player quoted in this article never played or very little. And that the few quoted that did or do get on the field feel good about DJ,” Pinkner wrote in a text. “Otherwise I think this article is BS and will sell papers.” Of the five players identified by the Post as having a negative view of the program, two did not play before transferring from Maryland, and two more combined for seven appearances. Wide receiver Deandre Lane, who mostly criticized the training staff to the Post, played in 26 games during his four-year career. “DJ cares about his players as much as he cares about his own kids,” Jak-
litsch wrote in an email Sunday night in response to the Post story. “I agree with the assessment that he pushed people to make them better—that’s why we hired him.” Jaklitsch said from conversations he’s had with numerous members of the commission — many of whom are alumni or are otherwise closely connected to the university — he’s gathered that the task force is “truly impressed with how much Durkin cares about his players.”
‘DR. LOH HAS TO GO’ Durkin rests at the eye of Maryland football’s storm, but university President Wallace Loh and athletic director Damon Evans aren’t out of the shadow. And select members of the Champions Club believe the most logical move would be removing Loh from his post, not Durkin. Members of the Champions Club disagree with Loh’s reaction to the ESPN reports, which included placing Durkin on leave. Loh and Evans have not faced direct repercussions to their positions. “I’ve never felt he really has the pulse of the school,” Pinkner said. “I’ve just never had a warm feeling for him. I’ve never thought he was that involved in athletics. … Maybe it’s because of my friends — everybody has the same feeling that Dr. Loh has to go.” Most members of the Champions Club are fine with the Board of Regents assuming control of both investigations and feel the task force investigating the program’s culture will do its due diligence. But the crux of the issue — the reason for the letter to the Board of Regents — was Maryland’s response to ESPN reporter Heather Dinich’s allegations in August. For a group allotted more access than most into the inner workings of a Big Ten football team, Champions Club members say they haven’t seen evidence to back the reports up. “To take advantage of that tragedy and blow this whole thing up ... was,
pardon my French, bullshit,” Pinkner said. “She took advantage of a tragedy and made it this big, big yellow journalism article to enhance, I guess, her notoriety.” “It’s a spectacular failure of leadership that Dr. Loh didn’t go and attack that misnomer of the football program,” Jaklitsch said. “Instead of believing DJ Durkin and all the players in that program, [he] believed Heather Dinich — which is ridiculous and absurd. And for that, Dr. Loh should lose his job.” Champions Club members did not point to any specific example of ESPN’s reporting as being false. When asked for comment, ESPN spokesperson David Scott provided a fiveword statement: “We stand by our reporting.” Not all members want Loh to lose his job. Novak said the president is usually methodical in his decisionmaking. He doesn’t find fault in either Evans or Loh in how they handled the fallout. Geller has sponsored a player’s scholarship for the past seven years. He goes to practices when he wants to and has eaten numerous meals with the team. He said his experience talking to players shows how much they like the program and Durkin. “If it’s a toxic culture, you can sniff it out pretty quickly,” Geller said. “It just didn’t seem to be that way whatsoever.” The Champions Club feels they were close enough to the program that they would’ve known if Durkin, Court or the trainers were mistreating players. They view themselves as having first-hand knowledge of the program as run by a man to whom they pledged at least $125,000, and dismiss the mounting evidence against him. “From what I’ve heard — they haven’t finished their investigation, they have another week,” Jaklitsch said, “but they haven’t seen any evidence anywhere of any toxic culture at all.” sportsdbk@gmail.com
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monDAY, october 1, 2018
SPORTS | 11
field hockey
Terps dominate UConn In a battle of undefeateds, No. 3 Terps avenge national championship loss A s t h e M a r y - coaching staff, our team, our team
by
Lila Bromberg land field hockey around the team,” coach Missy @lilabbromberg team prepared for a Meharg said. “It was a year ago that penalty corner in the we put ourselves in a position to Staff writer fifth minute Sunday against Connecticut, Terps fans chanted “right here, right now.” Midfielder Kyler Greenwalt said that the last time the teams played, the 2017 national championship game, the Terps were timid in the first half, leading to them trailing for most of the 2-1 loss. They suffered no such problems in Storrs on Sunday. Defender Bodil Keus slotted home the fifth-minute corner to put Maryland up 1-0. The Terps didn’t let up from there, avenging the national championship disappointment with a 4-2 win over the previously undefeated Huskies. “I’m just proud of our entire
even play UConn at the finals … We couldn’t be more pleased.” Maryland had an uncharacteristically poor regular season in 2017, making its national title game appearance a surprise. The No. 3 Terps have returned to their typical dominant play this season, entering Sunday one of three undefeated teams in the nation, along with No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 UConn. But instead of a tight game between two of the top-three teams in the nation, the Terps needed less than five minutes to get on the board and had a 4-0 lead early in the second half. The Huskies scored two goals in the final 10 minutes
to make the scoreline respectable. The defending national champions were tied for most goals per game in the country through their first 10 games but didn’t manage a single shot in the first half against Maryland (12-0). UConn (10-1) ended with only four shots on goal in the entire matchup, while Maryland put 13 shots on goal and had 19 shots total. “All our backs … didn’t let anybody into our circle,” defender Nike Lorenz said. “They defended really, really [well] back there. And whenever somebody in the line did make some sort of mistake, they repaired it and did a really good job.” Keus and Lorenz scored three of the team’s four goals. Keus had a pair of goals off penalty corners in the first 15 minutes, and after forward Bibi Donraadt scored in the 25th minute, Lorenz gave the Terps even more cushion right out
defender nike lorenz scored the Terps’ fourth goal against UConn, giving them a 4-0 lead just after halftime. The Germany native is tied for the team lead with 21 points this season. andi wenck/the diamondback of halftime in the 39th minute. Meharg said opponents expect the Terps to use the drag flick on corner chances, making Keus’ quick, sweeping shots a surprise. And, Meharg points out, scoring corners isn’t even her main role. “Bodil is our field general, [she] is just playing so well,” Meharg
said. “She’s speaking early and speaking urgently. ... She can make short passes, she can make medium size passes and she can make passes all the way up to the goal, and her attack point was outstanding.” sportsdbk@gmail.com
men’s soccer
Terps beat No. 18 Chanticleers for 1st ranked win Maryland scores 3 goals for first time in 2018, secures big win on the road W h e n Coa s ta l Joe Catapano Carolina midfielder @JoeCatapano_ Jeranimo Power tied the game just 30 Staff writer seconds after Maryland men’s soccer earned a 1-0 lead, it appeared the Terps might wind up with a result that didn’t adequately reflect their performance. Maryland dominated No. 18 Coastal Carolina on the road Sunday afternoon, but quickly saw its first breakthrough evaporate in the same minute that midfielder William James Herve notched his team-leading third goal of the season. But Maryland (4-3-2) scored twice in less than two minutes later, securing a 3-1 signature win away from Ludwig Field. Unlike early-season draws against Stanford and Virginia, the Terps received the outcome they felt they rightby
fully earned against a top-25 opponent. “To win on the road against a top team is always good, but it’s the fashion that we did it,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “We didn’t sneak away with a win here. We came and won in comprehensive fashion.” Cirovski has repeatedly said his team’s difficult early-season slate, which featured three ranked teams, would help the Terps as the season progressed. Herve’s goal in the 53rd minute was a sign that its difficult 0-1-2 start to the season was starting to pay off. Junior forward Paul Bin slipped behind the backline, received a through ball and found Herve making a run into the box. The unmarked midfielder onetimed a shot into the back of the net to give Maryland its first lead over a ranked foe this season.
It didn’t last long. A quick lapse of comfort allowed the Chanticleers to equalize on their only shot on goal of the afternoon less than a minute later. Before Maryland regained possession, Power leveled the score despite the overwhelming disparity in shots. “That was the only disappointment of the game,” Cirovski said. “We let our guard down right after the goal. It was a little too much exhale.” Rather than succumbing to the frustration of the immediate equalizer, Maryland kept the pressure on Chanticleers goalkeeper Chris Datallo. The senior goalie kept the Terps scoreless until the second half after they registered double-digit shots in the first 45 minutes alone. Maryland’s 19-8 shot advantage was indicative of the result it likely deserved, and the victory finally materialized in the final moments of the game. The Terps battled back from the game-tying strike, scoring two quick goals to win for
the fourth time in the last five games. Sophomore Eric Matzelevich set up forward Justin Gielen’s first college goal in the 78th minute, resembling Maryland’s first score from the opposite side of box. Gielen’s first touch, like Herve’s, was a shot that gave Maryland a onegoal lead. Instead of allowing another gametying goal, Maryland added to its lead. This time, Bin’s second assist of the contest found forward Sebastian Elney for his first goal of the season. Bin got behind the Chanticleers’ defense again and passed in front of the net to generate Maryland’s third one-timed goal. It marked the Terps’ first three-goal game of the season. “We were on the front foot the whole game,” Cirovski said. “We played our most complete game of the year and we were more threatening than we’ve been all year.” After winning three of their last four games against unranked opponents,
Coastal Carolina marked the start of another vicious stretch for the Terps that features five currently ranked opponents in their last eight games of the regular season. But the Terps have now scored in five consecutive games after failing to do so in the first four and are now above .500 for the first time in the 2018 campaign. The victory is a positive sign for a team that went winless in three early opportunities against top-25 competition. The Terps hadn’t scored in any of those three games against Washington, Virginia or Stanford, but were able to break out for a season-high on Sunday. “It’s things that we’ve been working on and things we haven’t been doing enough of so far this season,” Cirovski said. “It was nice to be rewarded for some good work.” sportsdbk@gmail.com
volleyball
Rainelle Jones blocks Ohio State’s comeback bid The freshman notched a career-high eight blocks to hold onto five-set victory by
Middle blocker
derailing the Buckeyes’ comeback
R a i n e l l e Jo n e s attempt. Ben Fischer While Maryland hit just .158 @TheBiggestFisch pumped her fist in the contest, its stout defense and slapped the Staff writer Xfinity Center Pavilion floor with both hands before running back toward the Maryland volleyball team’s huddle, a m p e d a f te r co m b i n i n g w i t h outside hitter Liz Twilley for yet another block. Late in the fifth set against Ohio State on Saturday, Jones and Twilley rose high to stuff middle blocker Madison Smeathers at the net, tying the final frame at 13. The Terps never trailed again, eking out a five-set victory and
held the team aloft. The Terps matched their season high with 12 blocks. Jones notched a careerhigh eight rejections, an integral part of Maryland’s second Big Ten win this season. “The game’s starting to slow down a little bit for her,” coach Adam Hughes said. “At first, it was pretty crazy and pretty fast. But she’s allowing the people around her to communicate, which makes things easier as well. At first, it was a lot of confusion, and slowly
but surely, she’s starting to catch up.” Jones went without a block in the first set against the Buckeyes, but became a force for the rest of the contest. The freshman had two blocks in the second set, three in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth, capping off her night with the game-tying rejection in the fifth set that helped spur the Terps’ run to victory. “Ohio State is a team that does some things that are a little bit untraditional offensively, so that was actually a tough matchup for her,” Hughes said. “From our standpoint, we watched her develop during the match, and that was a positive as well.” Jones added two kills to her statline, and after points, a section
of the crowd sporting white headbands with Jones’ No. 2 on them would erupt. “It’s all thanks to my mom,” Jones, an Oxon Hill native, said. “She loves the energy and me being local, so she brings everything she can to the team.” Jones credited her success to listening to coaches and teammates and drilling home her fundamentals in practice. “It’s all repetitive, but I feel like I worked hard enough to get to it,” Jones said. In addition to learning from coaches and teammates, Jones brings her own reminders onto the court with her. She keeps both hands wrapped in white tape, and against the Buckeyes, she wrote “press over” on her hand, a mental
note of her fundamentals to keep her blocking positioning. Jones has been a key part of the Terps’ rotation all season. She is one of seven players to have appeared in all 58 sets the team has played this year. And with middle blocker Jada Gardner sidelined with an injury, Jones has shouldered even more responsibility. While Jones’ skill and stats have caught the eyes of her teammates and coaches, they have b e e n e q u a l ly i m p re sse d w i t h her habits off the court and in practice. “She’s a hard worker,” Twilley sa i d . “ S h e ’s a lways t ry i n g to learn.”
their shoulders — but didn’t feel it qualified as abuse. “I mean, it was just a punishment,” the player told the Post. “I don’t know if that penalty necessarily fits the crime of being a few minutes late for something.” Former linebacker Gus Little said his time at Maryland made him lose his love for the game. He recalled a time when Court called him a “pussy bitch” because he was cramping following practice. When then-Maryland offensive lineman EJ Donahue met with Durkin in December 2016 to express his frustration with the coach’s treatment, Durkin told
him that it “sounds like a great story to tell [his] parents on why I’m quitting.” The investigation was expected to conclude early next month at the latest, but it’s unclear whether the new allegations will delay that. Regardless, the Post report shows that some people involved have already made up their minds. “If Durkin goes back, I will be standing in front of that school with a neon sign. I’ll be on the news every day,” Daniels said. “People need to know what it was really like.”
sportsdbk@gmail.com
football
durkin
don’t you just leave?” she resolved to pull the twins from the school. From p. 12 Another mother told the Post that Durkin is “a psychopath who Durkin heavily recruited the Daniels twins, and after decom- thinks he is more powerful than mitting from Minnesota, they God.” In the past, Durkin has denied joined the coach’s 2016 freshman class. But they quickly regret- a link between concussions and ted their decision, telling their CTE, bragged about intentionmother, “You don’t know these ally schedules practices during people, you don’t know what they the hottest parts of the day and alluded to the intensity he and do.” At one point, Elisha acciden- Court hoped to bring to College tally dialed his mother’s number Park when they were hired in order while he was in a meeting with to create a winning culture. Some players told the Post the Durkin. After hearing the coach tell her son, “You’ll never be environment was appropriate for nothing; nobody likes you. Why a Division I football program.
“Coach Durkin and Court never struck me as a bully. They did things with the intent of trying to make you better,” former kicker Henry Darmstadter recalls telling the investigators. “I’d classify it as an intense, competitive atmosphere where they try to foster guys to work hard, take risks and hopefully be successful on the field.” One anonymous player told investigators that he witnessed the allegations that had been reported — including Court punishing players by forcing them to spend an hour on a stair-stepper while carrying a long pipe across
sportsdbk@gmail.com
12 | SPORTS
monDAY, october 1, 2018
THIS WEEK’S GAMES
TWEET OF THE WEEK Field Hockey
Please take Booger off MNF.... has not idea what he’s talking about
3 Maryland 2 UConn
@C_Brown16, former Maryland football quarterback CJ Brown
Sept. 30
Women’s soccer
Sept. 30
4 2
Maryland 22 Wisconsin
0 0
Men’s soccer
Sept. 30
Maryland 18 Coastal Carolina
3 1
football
coach dj durkin remains on administrative leave as the expected conclusion date nears for an investigation into reports that he oversaw an abusive culture in College Park. New allegations surfaced Sunday. marquise mckine/the diamondback
More allegations of a toxic culture A Washington Post story features new testimonies about the football program Former Maryland James Crabtreefootball Hannigan players told @JamesCrabtreeH T h e Wa s h Senior staff writer i n g to n Po s t that head coach DJ Durkin and his staff abused them to the point of depression, humiliated them when they failed to complete workouts and pushed them to return from injuries prematurely, while playing favorites such that only some players suffered their wrath. ESPN’s report last month on the program’s toxic culture spurred an eight-person investigation now led by the University System of by
Maryland’s Board of Regents. With the investigation nearing its anticipated end date, The Post story published Sunday shed further light on some of the allegations that players have made — and some defenses others have offered of Durkin. “These allegations, if true, are unacceptable,” athletic director Damon Evans said in a statement this weekend. “We will not tolerate any behavior that is detrimental to the mental or physical well-being of our student-athletes.” In December 2016, the mother of a Maryland player hand-delivered a letter to the office of university
President Wallace Loh and emailed the same letter to then-athletic director Kevin Anderson and other university officials, she told The Post. “The fact that [Durkin] allows his coaches to psychologically, physically, and emotionally abuse the athletes is paving the way for a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit,” the letter reads, according to The Post. A statement from Loh issued in response to the Post story does not mention the letter, but a spokesperson said it will be brought to the commission. It remains unclear how many players, parents or coaches the commission has talked to for the investigation. Following the ESPN report on the program’s culture and the role
it may have played in the death of offensive lineman Jordan McNair — who suffered fatal heatstroke at a team workout May 29 — the university placed Durkin, head strength and conditioning coach Rick Court and two trainers on administrative leave. Court resigned shortly thereafter, while Durkin and the trainers remain on leave. The mother who wrote the letter told the Post she was “sad beyond belief that it took the death of one’s child to actually be listened to.” While the results of Dr. Rod Walters’ investigation into sports medicine practices and McNair’s death were released Sept. 21, little was known, beyond rumors, about the culture investigation before Sunday.
At a town hall hosted by the Student Government Association and Maryland Discourse on Thursday, Evans said he knew as little about the ongoing investigation as the students in attendance did, but assured them that “based upon what the findings are, we’re going to do what’s appropriate.” B u t K i m b e rly Da n i e l s, t h e mother of former Maryland defensive backs Elijah and Elisha Daniels, told the Post she’s concerned that neither she nor her sons have been contacted by investigators. “I have no faith in this investigation,” she told the Post. “If they haven’t called my boys or me, the investigation is botched. They don’t want to hear the truth.” See durkin, p. 11
Boosters defend Durkin despite mounting evidence Members of Durkin’s “Champions Club” say they never saw an abusive environment by
So o n a f te r DJ
want to go play for this man right
Andy Kostka Durkin was named now.” Of the donors Durkin made that Maryland football’s @afkostka Senior staff writer head coach in 2015, pitch to, about half immediately he organized a fundraising dinner for about 40 donors. After eating dinner on the field at Maryland Stadium, he brought the donors into the locker room and gave a pitch for them to join his newly minted Champions Club. As Durkin spoke, Michele Jaklitsch turned to her husband, Rick. “Oh my god, he sounds exactly like Gary Williams,” she said. “I
joined the club by committing to donate at least $25,000 per year for five years. Three years later, as Durkin’s future with Maryland remains uncertain, those original members are standing by Durkin. “He’s the right guy,” said John LaP ides, a Champions Club member. “He represents the university well and brings the right kind of culture.”
Durkin strove to make changes to a middling program attempting to make the jump to Big Ten football standards. He hired Rick Court, a fiery strength and conditioning coach, to be his right-hand man and instill a winning culture. He ran grueling workouts and competitive practices, and gave the team impassioned motivational speeches. To get the team on board, Durkin told them that if they performed well on and off the field, they could become a part of the players’ version of the Champions Club. As thenTerps quarterback Perry Hills said in 2016, the club rewarded players who did “everything right,” serving
as a greater incentive than what the program had in the past. “If you’re not in Champions Club, [Durkin] has a hard time trusting you,” Hills said, “because you’re not doing the right things.” While some players soured on Durkin, as detailed in ESPN and Washington Post reports that allege a toxic culture at Maryland, the boosters in the Champions Club remain ardent supporters, even as he nears his second month on administrative leave as a Board of Regents-led commission investigates the program. A separate investigation found Maryland trainers made fundamental mistakes that led to the death of
offensive lineman Jordan McNair. Yet the donors feel that should not be held against Durkin, who was at the workout. “The coach continues coaching and the training staff takes care of any player that can’t complete drills,” Rick Jaklitsch said. “It’s so ridiculous that [Durkin is on leave].” And even following a lengthy report from the Post on Sunday, highlighting experiences of former players and parents and alleged physical and psychological abuse from Durkin and other staff members, members of the Champions Club remain firm. See champions, p. 10
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