The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN COUNT
15 T U E S DAY, O C T O B E R 15 , 2 013
Groups to present plans for living, retail spaces
For now, higher ed safe from shutdown
By Natalie Tomlin @thedbk Staff writer
Uncertainty could lead to harmful effects later
While downtown College Park has seen much development in recent years, the city’s northern parts are also set to see changes if two plans for living and retail spaces are successful. For the past several years, developers and local lawmakers have been negotiating terms for Monument Village and Metropolitan, which will bring new apartments, town homes and some retail about a mile from the campus, just north of the bridge over University Boulevard. After efforts were stymied by the economic downturn, official plans for the two mixed-use projects will be presented to the City Council sometime within the next month, according to senior city planner Miriam Bader. The Washington region has seen strong rental growth in the past few years, including in College Park apartment communities, said Ben Butler, project manager for Metropolitan Development Group. He believes the market is strong enough to support the development of his project and Monument Village at the same time. “We think that the competition in this area is healthy and will benefit both developments,” he said. Metropolitan Development Group plans to start construction in spring 2014, Butler said. It is going through the county approval process and they are revising their detailed site plan. The Monument Village Development is also working to get its detailed site plan approved. That project could break ground as early as this winter, said Monument Village spokesman Alan Hew. Both Monument Village and Metropolitan were hit by the economic downturn during the 2007-09 recession and have undergone major changes since they were first introduced. A single developer was
By Jim Bach @thedbk Senior staff writer
Developers could rework city’s north
dabbing is a form of marijuana consumption in which users heat a glass pipe to smoke concentrated hash oil. When this university student (above) inhales the recently popular vaporized butane hash oil, he feels an almost instant high, he said. ellie silverman/for the diamondback
a dab will do you Powerful ‘dabs’ form of marijuana consumption gains popularity in state By Talia Richman @talirichman Staff writer EDITOR’S NOTE: Because this article discusses the use of illicit substances, some names have been changed to protect privacy. Empty D.P. Dough delivery boxes and crumpled Taco Bell wrappers lay strewn across the floor of the fraternity’s satellite house. The electronic beats of Super Smash Bros. provided background music as one student pulled out a blowtorch. “Hey, try this,” he said to another student. Will, a freshman who was considering pledging the fraternity, put his mouth to the glass pipe and inhaled. “I love everything about weed,” said Will, a psychology major. “So why not this?” Butane hash oil, a mix of cannabinoids extracted
from a marijuana plant and blasted with butane, has been smoked on the West Coast for decades. But recently, the drug, often known as “dabs,” has gained popularity in this state and the region. A single dab of the oil can contain up to 90 percent THC, compared to strong strains of marijuana that contain an average of 25 percent, said John Hall, a detective sergeant with the Maryland State Police. Because of its potency, Hall calls the drug “the crack of marijuana.” Its presence is evident among university students: Will said he was invited to dab at four different fraternities this semester. “This summer is when it became incredibly popular here,” said Edward, a junior communication major who said he dabs at least once a day. “I am someone who smokes a lot, but I See dabbing, Page 2
Despite grim predictions from experts, the government shutdown hasn’t severely affected higher education, and there have been few repercussions for students receiving financial aid. But that’s not to say there isn’t cause for concern on the higher education front, said Sarah Bauder, university financial aid director. There are more indirect consequences, she said, and she has seen a number of students whose parents are federal employees or contractors who are uncertain of their ability to make payments on time. W h i l e t h e s h utd o w n h a s n’t stretched long enough to push up against any payment deadlines, Bauder said the uncertainty surrounding when the government will open back up and allow furloughed workers to retu rn to a steady income has prompted the financial aid office to extend deadlines and circumvent Washington politics with “creative financing.” “We don’t know what the future holds,” Bauder said. And given the highly partisan nature of Congress recently, the uncertain atmosphere may not change anytime soon. Even if Congress does address the shutdown, it won’t do much to prevent any future standoffs or political brinkmanship. “We’re going to be here again,” Bauder said. “This is not the last time we’re going to see these types of issues unless the government, the House and the Senate come to a resolution.” What bothers Bauder, however, transcends higher education issues.
See DEVELOPers, Page 3
See SHUTDOWN, Page 3
Picturing College Park humans
University scientists cheer Nobel Prize for Higgs boson Teams worked toward discovery for years
Photo project aims to document student life
By Joe Antoshak @Mantoshak Staff writer
By Madeleine List @madeleine_list Staff writer Getting to know the more than 37,000 students at this university may be an impossible feat, but senior Minh Pho is attempting to document the entire student population — one photograph at a time. Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, a blog dedicated to capturing New York City inhabitants through photographs and captions, Pho, an education major, started a similar project of his own this semester: Humans of College Park. Aiming to tell stories of people on the ca mpus, Pho posts portraits, along with quotes or anecdotes, taken from his conversations with subjects on his project’s Facebook page.
minh pho, founder of Humans of College Park, tells people’s stories on the photo project’s Facebook page. The blog Humans of New York inspired the education major to capture student life. james levin/the diamondback “I want to try to make each interaction unique to that person, but it can be hard if you don’t know anything about them,” Pho said. He generally starts off asking basic questions — “What’s your major?” — before getting into more specific questions about their lives. But so far, he said, only about 10 percent of the people he approaches will let him photograph and interview them. “In the beginning, it was a little bit of a letdown,” he said. “I figured on a college campus people would be more friendly and receptive to a random
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person coming up and striking up a conversation.” He hopes people will become more enthusiastic once the project gets increased exposure, he said. “I would love it to be well-known around campus so if I say, ‘Humans of College Park,’ people know exactly what I’m talking about,” he said. Showcasing the diversity and uniqueness of students on the campus could help dispel stereotypes — like those suggesting communication See HUMANS, Page 2
Although Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were the only scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in physics last week in honor of their work uncovering the Higgs boson particle, they weren’t the only ones who celebrated the gesture. Thousands of scientists from around the world assisted in research leading to the eventual discovery of the Higgs particle last year, including 22 from this university. Nicholas Hadley, a physics professor and chairman of a U.S. collaboration board, said he started working on Higgs research when his previous project with another particle collider, the Texas-based Superconducting Super Collider, was canceled due to budget constraints in 1993. In hunting for the Higgs, Hadley represented the interests of more
than 600 U.S. scientists as the highest-ranking elected chairman on the country’s Compact Muon Solenoid detector experiment team. The CMS is another particle collider located in Switzerland, and it was the site of experiments that contributed to Higgs’ and Englert’s discovery. “It was a really exciting day for everyone involved with the experiment when we announced the discovery on July 4, 2012,” Hadley said. “To have 20 years of work finally pay off is a great feeling.” Higgs and Englert were selected for the Nobel Prize for theories they published almost 50 years ago that seemed to explain why essential building blocks of the universe have mass. But because scientists were unable to confirm the Higgs’ existence until last year, their theories could not be proven definitely. That is, until the Large Hadron Collider was completed in 2008. The LHC, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, operates at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as CERN, on the See HIGGS, Page 3
OPINION
SPORTS
DIVERSIONS
STAFF EDITORIAL: Save city’s green
TERPS LOSE ANOTHER DEFENSIVE MAINSTAY
AMANDA BYNES IS A MESS. IT’S OUR FAULT. Americans watch celebrities self-destruct with sick satisfaction, but it’s time to stop laughing and start considering their mental health P. 6
The proposed golf course redevelopment would take College Park in the opposite direction the city should go P. 4
Outside linebacker and pass rusher Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil out for season after suffering torn pectoral muscle early in Saturday’s 27-26 win over Virginia P. 8