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T U E S DAY, O C T O B E R 2 9 , 2 013
Tuition up, but pace of rise slowing Experts cautious amid smallest uptick in years By Jim Bach @thedbk Senior staff writer
district 3 incumbents Robert Day and Stephanie Stullich at Monday night’s forum. james levin/the diamondback
A recent report signals that increasing college costs might be slowing down, but experts said to tread with caution, as there is still much work to be done in addressing college affordability. Average in-state tuition and fees increased 2.9 percent at public fouryear schools in the 2013 school year, down from a 4.5 percent increase in the 2012 school year and significantly lower than the 8.5 percent increase in 2011. This year’s numbers reflect the smallest percentage increase in more than 30 years, according to last week’s “Trends in College Pricing” from the College Board. In this state, tuition and fees for four-year public universities increased 8 percent over a five-year period, a low rate compared to several other states, such as California with a 57 percent increase. The slow rise is in part due to the state legislature’s efforts to keep higher education funding flowing during the recession, when other states were forced to slash budgets. “Funding from the state was critical in making possible a zero increase in undergraduate, in-state education for any freshman who matriculated in fall 2005 and graduated in four years,” University System of Maryland spokesman Mike Lurie wrote in an email. “Since 2010, that same support has helped USM maintain annual tuition increases of 3 percent for those same students, keeping the USM ahead of national trends in tuition growth.” But Rory O’Sullivan, policy and research director at Young Invincibles, a national nonprofit representing the interests of 18- to 34-year-olds, warned there are still strides to be made, and one small percentage increase amid years of larger increases does not necessarily signify a change in trends. “It doesn’t show signs of tuition coming down; it shows signs of tuition slowing its growth rate,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ve been seeing 5, 6, 7 percent increases year on year.” O’Sullivan said he wants to see a bigger sample size before he’s sold on
Hopefuls chat city in forum City Council candidates on platform, workgroup
photo illustration by james levin/the diamondback
the chamber of secrets Guns, Marvin Gaye, bald eagles and more in a day at the CIA By Laura Blasey and Jenny Hottle @lblasey, @JennyHottle Senior staff writers — LANGLEY, Va. — ith a gloved hand, the guard hugged an assault rifle to his body. He waved his free hand and started yelling commands before the driver could roll down his window. This was the wrong entrance. This was the wrong place to make a U-turn. And the guard was not happy that a trio of students in a silver Volkswagen Rabbit had mistakenly shown up at his gate during Friday morning’s rush hour. We were lost, and it would be another hour before we finally arrived at the gate leading to the Central Intelligence Agency’s visitor center. But after another 20 minutes of driving in circles around an expansive parking lot and two failed attempts to gain entry into the building, we were in. Few get the chance to visit the CIA’s campus, and it was a challenge to do so. The privilege is typically reserved for employees, contractors and their close friends and family on special occasions. But we were part of the first group of college journalists invited to visit the agency in some years.
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We were to tour the facility, have lunch and then travel to Washington for a discussion with former CIA and National Security Agency director Gen. Michael Hayden. Dennis Helms, an intellectual property lawyer, organized the trip. Helms works in New Jersey, but he has a special connection to the CIA: His father is notorious CIA director Richard Helms. Though famed for his skill at coordinating spy missions, the former director hid Cold War secrets from Congress, earning himself two misdemeanor convictions. The elder Helms, who died in 2002, left office in 1973 with a broken relationship between the CIA and Congress. But he also left a legacy that Dennis Helms is seeking to carry on. Helms hopes to re-establish the CIA facility tours his father once offered to journalists. Helms, who offered tidbits of information and encouraged questions throughout the tour, later emailed us and told us to “please avoid any discussion of getting in and out of the facility.” After our morning confusion, we were the last of the 13 students to arrive at the Original Headquarters Building. We surrendered our cell See CIA, Page 2
‘Neighborhoods’ would unite students next fall By Dustin Levy @dustinblevy Staff writer Students enrolled in the College Park Scholars Program might find themselves living in a new kind of neighborhood next fall as program officials prepare for the launch of the Justice and Legal Thought Program. T he “neighborhoods,” which will bring together programs with similar concentrations, are part of an overall plan to increase collaboration between the soon-to-be 12 Scholars programs and align the program with several university initiatives, said James Glass, International Studies
program director. “For the most part, our programs don’t do enough together,” said Reid Compton, Life Sciences program director. “Having everybody together will help to facilitate more cross-program interaction. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be happening now.” Scholars students will still live in Cambridge Community on North Campus. According to the plan, officials will organize the programs into three neighborhoods: creativity, discovery and transformation. The community’s high-rise and lowrise dorms could house up to four Scholars programs each, said Greig Stewart, Scholars executive director. “With us launching a new program, with all of these initiatives going on, we were trying to think how might Scholars conceptualize itself in a way that aligns with the initiatives of the university,” Stewart said. The creativity neighborhood — grouping together Arts; Business, Society and Economy; Environment, Technology and Economy; and Science, Technology and Society — is
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Whether the city played an effective role in implementing the Neighborhood Stabilization and Quality of Life Work Group’s recommendations was a question at the forefront of Tuesday night’s forum for District 3 council and mayoral candidates. The two incumbent councilmembers, Robert Day and Stephanie Stullich, along with university graduate student and councilman candidate Matthew Popkin and two mayoral candidates, met for a forum sponsored by the Calvert Hills Citizens Association at the Old Parish House on Knox Road. The forum first covered candidate platforms before students and residents in the audience asked questions that encompassed issues under the purview of the Neighborhood Stabilization and Quality of Life Work Group, which was established last year — and upgraded to a permanent 15-member committee in September — to tackle city issues such as student-resident relations and rent stabilization. In initial questions, Stullich touched on new initiatives that came out of the Neighborhood Stabilization Committee, such as tailgating on the campus for Greek life and the expansion of the university Code of Student Conduct off the campus, all of which, she said, can be seen as significant improvements to quality of life across the city. But the City Council had very little See CANDIDATES, Page 3
See TUITION, Page 3
Scholars may live in cluster of programs
By Teddy Amenabar @TeddyAmen Senior staff writer
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Zero ‘forcible rapes’ reported to Univ Police since last year Experts cite culture of under-reporting rape By Natalie Tomlin @thedbk Staff writer
cambridge community, home to the College Park Scholars Program, will consolidate its subprograms into neighborhoods next fall. sung-min kim/the diamondback a response to the university’s innovation and entrepreneurship initiative, Stewart said. A tighter-knit community, he said, could lead to collaboration on field trips, courses, internships and service-learning programs. The discovery neighborhood, based on the university’s push for See SCHOLARS, Page 3
The latest campus crime report showed zero “forcible rapes” were directly reported to University Police since 2012, but it’s not necessarily an improvement, experts said: It’s likely an anomaly in the data, and there is still progress to be made toward changing the culture. “I’ve been here for over 25 years, and there are years where we have zero [rapes] reported [to us] and then the next year you might have six,” said Capt. Brian Lintz, patrol commander for University Police. “And no matter what that number is, we know it’s way under-reported. It all
really depends on the victims.” The University Health Center’s sexual violence support program CARE to Stop Violence noticed an increase in reports of overall sexual assault crimes during the first six weeks of the semester. Lintz said the recent crime report is only representative of what has been reported directly to University Police. These Uniform Crime Reports only include the cases the police actually carried out and investigated, said Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas, University Police spokeswoman. The police’s Clery Actmandated reports, though, include rapes that were reported to other campus resources, such as CARE, the counseling center or any university authority. The UCR reported zero rapes, but the Clery stated 10 rapes occurred on or near the campus in 2012. See RAPE, Page 3
DIVERSIONS
OPINION
TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
MIKE KING: Searching for the CIA (or America)
Mourning the passing and celebrating the legacy of legendary Velvet Underground frontman, solo artist Lou Reed, who died Sunday at 71 P. 6
Observing illusion and reality in the CIA’s headquarters P. 4 SPORTS
DESPITE JACOBS’ BIG DAY, TERPS STRUGGLE Offense plagued by inconsistency during career day P. 8