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IN NEED OF A HERO

WOLVERINES ATTACK Terps host Michigan and its tough defense tonight

NBC’s Heroes needs a new direction, and it needs one fast

SPORTS | PAGE 10

DIVERSIONS | PAGE 7

THE DIAMONDBACK WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

99TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 65

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

DOTS may Mather to speak at graduation add winter, spring BWI shuttles

Nobel Prize winner, adjunct physics professor to discuss life lessons, scientific discoveries

BY BEN WORSLEY Staff writer

Thanksgiving bus exceeded officials’ turnout expectations

John Mather, an adjunct professor of physics who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 2006, will be the university’s winter commencement speaker.

Mather, a senior astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, was chosen by the university’s senior council to speak at the ceremony, which

will take place Dec. 20 at the Comcast Center.

“I’m really tickled and pleased to be speaking to these young people,” Mather said.

Mather admitted he has not given his speech much thought yet, but did say he plans to offer life lessons for the graduating students, as well as point out some of the latest discoveries in cosmology and astronomy.

“It’s a very exciting time of sci-

ence and culture,” he added.

Senior Marissa Shirron, the commencement speaker chair for the senior council, said Mather was one of the council’s top choices for potential speakers. She e-mailed him just before Thanksgiving asking if he would be willing to speak, and he accepted within 24 hours. He later sent her his personal resume, which

Please See SPEAKER, Page 2

JOHN MATHER Commencement speaker

BY TIRZA AUSTIN Staff writer

A DOTS shuttle service to BWI airport may be brought back for winter and spring break after its success over the Thanksgiving break.

More than 300 students rode the Department of Transportation Services shuttles to the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, exceeding the expectations of DOTS Director David Allen, who said he would consider 100 riders successful.

Students who used the shuttle said they found it more convenient than the previous public transportation option for getting to BWI, which involved taking a Shuttle-UM bus to the College Park Metro Station, taking the

Please See BWI, Page 2

SGA to debate election rules for next year Coach Ralph Friedgen and the Terps know they don’t have many options as to which bowl game they will play in this season. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

BY MICHAEL LEMAIRE Staff writer

The SGA is set to debate new campaign regulations tonight that limit spending and enforce regulations, in an attempt to eliminate what in recent years has become a source of contention.

The proposed regulations, which could be amended by the legislature, may play a large role in determining who will lead the student body and represent its interests before the university administration and the Maryland General Assembly as the Student Government Association president next year. One of the largest changes in the newest version of the rules is a shortening of the campaign period from 14 to 10 days, which could hamper independent candidates who run without the backing of a party, said Ashwani Jain, the

Please See SGA, Page 2

BOWLING FOR A SPARE Terps waiting for postseason situation to clear up

BY JEFF NEWMAN Staff writer

Two weeks ago, the Terrapin football team held its destiny in its hands. With two victories to close out the season, the Terps would guarantee themselves a spot in the ACC Championship game and a finish as the first- or second-place team in the conference.

Two weeks and two losses later, the Terps, much like the bowls in which they

might play, are left waiting to see who will play where in late December.

Once the conference champion is determined between No. 18 Boston College and Virginia Tech this Saturday, the ACC’s bowl games will begin their selections. The Orange Bowl will automatically receive the conference champion, and every remaining bowl-eligible ACC team will either have four or five conference victories.

Please See BOWLS, Page 8

Robbery increase sparks police outreach

BY KYLE GOON Staff writer

During Thanksgiving break, Prince George’s County Police posted a sign on College Avenue near the Maryland Book Exchange that stated, “SAFETY REMINDER, ALWAYS LOCK YOUR DOORS, ALWAYS LOCK YOUR WINDOWS.” It’s a cautionary reminder police have been stressing throughout the semester, but with only a few weeks of the fall semester left, the county and university are trying once more to get the word out.

The simple suggestion addresses a growing problem

TOMORROW’S WEATHER:

in the university community.

This year, burglaries through Nov. 30 have increased 54 percent compared with all of last year. In addition, in every sexual assault that took place in a residence this year, the assailant was either let in or entered the house through an unsecured door or window.

District 1 Assistant Commander Capt. Daniel Lipsey said county police have been handing out fliers warning students and other College Park residents to protect themselves from intruders.

However, he said he hopes the sign proves more effective than other measures.

“Sometimes you hand out

Please See POLICE, Page 2

Cloudy/40s

The Terps’ loss to Florida State on Nov. 22 knocked them out of ACC title contention and into the range of mid-level bowl games. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

RHA committee launches room selection prototype

BY DERBY COX Staff writer

A sign on College Avenue warns residents to lock their windows and doors, after an increase in robberies. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

INDEX

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

FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 CLASSIFIED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Resident Life unveiled an online room selection prototype at a Residence Hall Association committee meeting yesterday that many said could simplify the housing process this spring.

RHA members will test the prototype before voting whether to support the prototype at its meeting Tuesday.

Members of the ReLATe Committee, which advises Residence Life, said the new process should make room selection less stressful and more intuitive for students.

DIVERSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . .7 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

“Compared to what [room selection] currently is, this is a tenfold improvement at the very least,” ReLATe Committee Chair Spiro Dimakas said.

If all goes according to plan, Information Technology Manager Tom Lamp said room selection may move online for the spring semester. Students can view the prototype at www.resnet.umd.edu/MyDRL /Student/rmsel/.

The online room selection system allows a user to create or join groups of one to six people. Group creators

Please See RHA, Page 3

www.diamondbackonline.com

2

THE DIAMONDBACK | NEWS | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

TODAY

WE WANT YOU Story ideas? News tips?

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

BRIEFS

Sports Illustrated names Phelps Sportsman of the Year NEW YORK – Michael Phelps achieved another unprecedented feat: the first swimmer honored as Sports Illustrated’s sportsman of the year.

Phelps broke Mark Spitz’s iconic record with eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in August and became the winningest Olympian ever with his 14 career victories. Olympians in other sports have earned the award before in its 54-year history but never a swimmer.

In 1972, the year Spitz won his medals, UCLA basketball coach John Wooden and tennis great Billie Jean King were honored by the magazine.

“I’m doing what I love. I was able to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish this year.” Phelps said.

– Compiled from wire reports CLARIFICATION Yesterday’s story “Irish school partners with university” stated the university offers only short-term study abroad programs in Ireland during the summer. The university has also previously offered programs in Ireland during the winter term.

@M

ARYLAND

TUESDAY | OVERHEARD

Metro one stop to Greenbelt, and then taking a bus from Greenbelt to BWI. “I didn’t have to worry about catching buses,” said Steve Glickman, a sophomore government and politics major, SGA member and university senator. “I just had to be at the bus stop at 7:30 p.m. and didn’t have to worry about anything. It was a lot more stress free for me. I hope they offer it again.”

Glickman said he would use the service again because it eliminated a lot of the excess travel time and inconvenience. He added it was “quick, easy and free.” “[The university] has all these shuttle buses, they might as well use them,” said Nehama Rogozen, a junior government and politics major.

Rogozen said the timing was always wrong when she used public transportation to get to the airport. She said she used to switch from a bus to the Metro to another bus to get to the airport, so she started riding the $36 Super Shuttle. Rogozen and her roommate, who is an Residence Hall Association member, thought of an idea

to utilize the DOTS shuttles.

Both the RHA and DOTS said they were surprised with the success.

“It shows that we do need the service,” said RHA Transportation Advisory Committee chair Scott Shuffield.

Next time the buses will run every two hours rather than every hour and a half to allow for more travel time because some of the buses ran late, Shuffield said.

Glickman said the bus was 30 minutes late and arrived at the airport only 20 minutes before his flight took off, which was closer than he would have liked.

He added one student on the bus almost missed his flight.

RHA Member Debbie Kobrin, a junior government and politics major who first suggested the idea to Allen, was surprised with how eagerly Allen agreed to the plan within such a short timeframe.

“It’s exciting to see that happen. ... It gives the RHA more confidence when we’re asking for things,” Kobrin said. “It bodes really well for the RHA and DOTS working together in the future.” taustindbk@gmail.com

$500 limit placed on campaign gifts SGA, from Page 1 chairman of the SGA’s Constitution and Bylaws committee.

But Jain views the change as a way to ensure the student body remains interested in the election, while still allowing candidates time to reach as many potential voters as possible.

“Obviously the more time we give the candidates the more people we can reach,” Jain said. “The issue of fairness was brought up, but if you look at our voter turnout last year, the percentage of voters is down from previous years, so we thought some of the students would lose interest.”

Devin Ellis, a former SGA chief of staff, didn’t think that the loss of days would be of major consequence, adding that independents put themselves at a disadvantage from the start.

“I don’t think the four days will make a big difference. It won’t unfairly disadvantage anyone,” Ellis explained. “The people who choose to run alone start with a disadvantage.”

Shortening the campaign period was not arbitrary, said SGA President Jonathan Sachs, but necessary based on the calendar this year.

“There’s no idealistic reason for making it 10 days,” Sachs said. “It’s just technical days on the calendar.”

Former SGA President An-

drew Friedson, who had less than 14 days to campaign when he ran for election, agreed that four days is relatively inconsequential, but he disagreed with the idea that shortening the election period would affect student interest.

“It’s the job of the candidates to generate interest in their way,” Friedson said. “If they want to keep people interested, they need to campaign in a way that generates the most interest.”

Also, just two years after voting to allow individual donors to contribute up to $3,500 to a campaign, the committee decided to cut the amount permitted to $500, a move that Jain said would close a glaring loophole.

“As the rules read last year, an individual can donate $3,500, which essentially means that one individual could pay for an entire campaign,” Jain said.

The committee also allowed candidates an extra $500 to spend on their campaigns, raising the maximum from $3,500 to $4,000.

Many members of the committee felt that even $4,000 was too low, and pushed for a $5,000 cap, according to Jain, but he stepped in to help the committee find a happy medium.

“Again it comes down to reaching as many people as possible,” Jain said. “We have a large community and we want candidates to people to effectively reach as many people as possible.”

NEW MUSIC AT MARYLAND

Interactive workshop hosted by Chi Sigma Iota that will give you tips on how to relax before finals, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Benjamin: 0220

The School of Music hosts a concert of original works by university composers; free and open to all, 8-10 p.m., Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

WEDNESDAY | Q + A

RHA, DOTS pleased with shuttle turnout BWI, from Page 1

STRESS MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP

Ellis said that during his time on the SGA, it lifted the cap before it was brought back in 2007 saying “free money, in this country, is free political speech.” But he said money won’t decide the race.

“In the end, It’s not how much you spend but how much you do,” Ellis said. If you have great outreach and a great ground team, then you will probably win.”

But limiting the amount one person can donate can hinder the amount of funds a candidate is able to accrue, Sachs said.

“I think money is really helpful in getting your message out to students,” Sachs said. “It’s not only access for those who want to serve but also access for the student body. There’s obviously a correlation between funding and voter engagement both locally and nationally, and that’s obviously something that we will have to consider.”

Friedson admitted a balance is difficult to strike.

“I don’t know if they will ever be able to make it perfect,” Friedson said.

Marissa Lang contributed to this report. lemairedbk@gmail.com

THURSDAY | BEST of the BLOGS

FRIDAY | SCENE + HEARD

Q+A

Recessionary spending Financial Aid’s Sarah Bauder on how to afford tuition

BY NELLY DESMARATTES Staff writer

With the credit crunch and the announcement by the National Bureau of Economic Research that the United States is officially in a recession and has been for more than a year, The Diamondback talked to Sarah Bauder, director of the Office of Financial Aid, about how the poor economy will affect student financial aid, student loans and the avenues available to help student pay for college.

The Diamondback: How do you believe the current economic situation will affect the student loan industry?

Sarah Bauder: The Stafford student loan is a governmentbacked student loan, so the recession is not going to impact that at all, so students will not be impacted. Who will be impacted by the recession are parents. Parents take out a credit-worthy loan. So the economic crisis is focused on whether or not a family is credit-worthy. So lenders are tightening up their credit scores, so historically when Mom and Dad apply for a loan and they were on the bubble — that is, that they were iffy about whether or not they can qualify for a creditworthy loan — now those students, or rather their families, are not going to get that loan.

DBK: According to the Project on Student Debt, the university’s class of 2008 graduated with $1,000 more in debt than the class of 2007. Can you give me

your reasons why that might be?

Bauder: It is really hard for me to give my opinion on just one statistic because statistics never stand alone. There could be 50 other variables. For instance it could be because more students are majoring in business and medicine and health fields, which has a higher cost of education than other fields. It could be that the state — which it is — could be reducing the amount of aid going into higher education.

Every state has a budget, some are line-item budgets and some are what I call “fluff,” which is non-mandated. Higher education is something that is a non-mandated expense. So when all your bills are paid at the state level, whatever is left over goes to the non-mandated items. So in times of good, when there is a lot of money coming in and citizens are buying things and taxes are being paid, money is given to non-mandated expenses such as higher education. So because we are a non-mandated item, the state government cuts higher education first. So the question is, how do we make up that revenue, because students still want all the things they expect from a college.

So the university has to increase tuition. So an increase in tuition will cause higher debt.

DBK: How do you believe students will be able to fund their education in this economic situation?

Bauder: That is a really good question as I am playing with that right now, because the [federal government] has cut work

study, but Pell Grants and Stafford loans have increased.

The state has decreased the funding to the university, so our institutional operational budget to give to students has decreased.

So all of these variables are in play and, as I award funds for next year, I have to think about all of this. I think there are going to be more have-nots than haves next year.

DBK: What advice would you give students who were economically stable in previous years but due to the economic situation are now seeking financial assistance?

Bauder: In the past families usually went to either their home equity, their 401(k)s, their credit cards because they were going to pay it off in order to finance a college education. Now, because of the economic situation, those avenues are no longer available to the degree they were. So now, these resources have dried up. I would tell continuing students to meet with me, they need to make themselves a voice. We have 24,000 undergraduate students, and 17,000 apply for some type of financial aid. So those 17,000 we cannot address all of them. So the ones that actually come in and say ‘you know what, I can’t pay.’

Our job is to make sure that students do not drop out due to finances. That is my whole job. So my message would be do not panic, come in and talk to us and usually there are avenues to help with finances. desamarattesdbk@gmail.com

Speaker first non-alumnus in 2 years SPEAKER, from Page 1 Shirron said was 34 pages long and consisted of at least 20 pages of publications.

“He’s done so many amazing things,” said Shirron, whose father also works with Mather.

“And winning a Nobel Prize definitely speaks for itself.”

Although Shirron doesn’t graduate until May, her twin sister will be graduating in December.

Shirron said she is looking forward to personally meeting Mather at the ceremony.

“I’m just really excited to meet him,” she said. “He’s an incredible person.”

Mather is best known for his work with fellow astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner George Smoot on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite. The COBE project helped prove the Big Bang Theory with concrete

evidence. He was honored as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007, thanks in large part to his work with the COBE project.

Mather has won a vast amount of accolades for his work in the field, even dating back to a scholarship he earned in 1964 as an undergraduate at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Mather went on to graduate with a doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkley, in 1974 with a 4.0 GPA. The Roanoke, Va., native will join the ranks of Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Carl Bernstein, ESPN reporter Tim Kurkjian and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the previous three commencement speakers, who were all former university students. In the recent past, Google co-founder and university alumnus Sergey Brin, U.S.

Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D), and professional football player and university alumnus Boomer Esiason have spoke at winter commencement.

Although Mather is supposed to be a professor of physics at the university, he is instead a self-acclaimed “adjunct professor who doesn’t profess.” Mather has been busy working on the James Webb Space Telescope, a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, that should be finished in five years, and lacks the time to teach students.

But Mather said he is looking forward to inspiring the graduating students three weeks from now.

“The students are the young ones going off into the world to find out what it’s about,” he said.

“I want to give some picture of this in a kind of poetic way.” worsleydbk@gmail.com

Roommates Can’t live with ‘em, can’t afford to live without ‘em.

Diamondback Classifieds In Print / Online — One Low Price 3136 South Campus Dining Hall 301.314.8000

www.diamondbackonline.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008 | NEWS | THE DIAMONDBACK

3

Dietitian dissects dining hall menu Dining Services dietitian visits dining halls as part of Eat Smart Campaign

BY MICHELLE CLEVELAND Staff writer

For some students, the search for healthy options among the grease-soaked pizza and piles of french fries at the dining halls is over.

The university’s dietitian, Sister Maureen Schrimpe, was at The Diner for an hour and a half during lunchtime yesterday to answer questions students had about diets and dining hall food. She will be at the South Campus Dining Hall today from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Only a few students came to the table set up inside the dining hall to talk to the dietitian, who hosted a question-and-answer session as part of the Eat Smart campaign, a healthy eating initiative launched

by Dining Services last week.

Schrimpe said she is making herself more available to students to encourage them to select the healthy choices the dining halls offer and to inform students about Eat Smart. Schrimpe said she hopes students will ask her if they are not able to find healthy alternatives.

“Although [students] think that we fry everything, there are other options as well,” Schrimpe said.

Kerianne Duval, a sophomore neurobiology and physiology major, talked to the dietitian and the nutrition intern for about 20 minutes about her dining hall options as a diabetic.

“I wanted to know how I could incorporate my diabetic diet with

POLICE, from Page 1

Sophomore Kerianne Duval, far left, talks with nutritionist Sister Maureen Schrimpe, center, and intern Katherine Shook about healthy meal options. VINCE SALAMONE/FOR THE DIAMONDBACK

the food that’s here,” Duval said.

“I wanted to know what genre of food to look out for.”

Duval appreciated the access to Schrimpe because visits to the Health Center’s dietitian cost money, and the Center for Health and Wellbeing at the Eppley Recreation Center is usually booked, she said.

Ultimately, Schrimpe said healthy eating and balancing a good diet is up to students. She made suggestions like to “get tuna

fish without the mayonnaise by just asking.” Schrimpe said the salad bar is usually a healthy selection, but not when students use too much salad dressing. She also suggested students take advantage of lighter meal options, such as a basic turkey sandwich from the delis or the fresh vegetables offered at Cluckers.

Still, some students are not interested in the healthy options the dinning halls offers.

“I know not everyone wants to

eat salads every day,” sophomore psychology major Lara Paek said.

Sophomore economics and English major Hammad Rasul said he was not even aware of the dietitian event at the dining hall and had doubts about the selection of nutritional options at the dining halls.

“It gives you a lot of bad options and the good options are really hidden,” Rasul said. clevelanddbk@gmail.com

Installation of campus’s second green roof delayed Cranes near Stamp Student Union would be too dangerous, inconvenient during semester

BY TIRZA AUSTIN Staff writer

Plans for the second green roof on the campus have taken a detour.

The $2.7 million installation of green roofs on the Atrium and the Prince George’s room in the Stamp Student Union has been delayed because Facilities Management doesn’t want to set up two cranes outside Stamp during the semester, citing the safety of and convenience for both students and construction workers, said Carlo Colella, Facilities Management’s director of architecture, engineering and construction.

“It will be less impactful on everybody when the univer-

sity is closed,” he said. “It will be easier on [the construction workers], because they will have less traffic to control.”

The cranes, which were originally expected in November, were pushed back until either the day after commencement ceremonies or the day after Christmas, said Associate Director of Student Union Facilities Stephen Gnadt. Not all the preparation work was in place, and Facilities Management decided to wait until Stamp quiets down before starting the heavy lifting, Gnadt said.

Because the project involves swinging steel, Stamp has to be evacuated before moving materials over the building, Gnadt said.

Colella said the crane delay will not affect the rest of the project, which is still projected for an April 1 completion. Because of the crane delay, the project has focused on the demolition of the insides of the rooms, such as ceilings, light fixtures, sprinkler systems, fire alarms and duct work, Gnadt said.

Delaying the cranes allows facilities to bring in both of the cranes at once, which shortens the amount of time the rooms will be exposed to the elements, Gnadt said. The cranes will be in place for approximately four days, depending on the weather, Colella said.

The $2.7-million project will upgrade the 35-year-old roofs that were passed over

during Stamp’s previous renovation project.

The rooms were originally designed as outdoor courtyards and were enclosed later, causing pooling water on the roofs, which leak when it rains. The vegetation on the green roof will prevent the leaks by absorbing the water, Gnadt said.

Green roofs are more expensive and not always possible when renovating an older roof, but they absorb rainwater runoff, insulate the building, reduce pollution, provide a new habitat and cool the atmosphere — benefits most university officials said they believe are worth the extra cost. taustindbk@gmail.com

Research aims to debunk single mom stereotypes Single mothers spend as much time with kids as their married counterparts

BY MARISSA LANG Staff writer

In a self-described “first step” toward leveling the playing field for single mothers, university researchers released a study debunking the social stigmas surrounding being a single mom.

Despite high rates of divorce and an increase in non-marital childbearing, the study is the first of its kind to chalk up the difference in child care to a lack of available resources rather than personal deficiencies and to also provide a detailed look at the amount of time and level of interaction single mothers are able to devote to their children.

By using American Time Use Survey data — an annual federal survey that asks participants to fill out a detailed account of how they spend 24 hours — and surveying more than 1,800 single mothers and more than 4,300 married mothers with young children, researchers derived that regardless of marital status, there is not a big difference in

County, University police working on joint safety event

the number of hours mothers spend caring for their children. These findings, they said, were surprising.

“We thought they would be really busy, but it turned out that they still spent up to 90 percent of the time with their children that married women do,” principal researcher and sociology doctoral student Sarah Kendig said. “That’s a lot of time.”

Despite the numerous challenges single mothers face, those single mothers surveyed, on average, spent only three to five fewer hours per week on child care than married mothers. The differences are statistically significant, researchers said, but can be explained almost entirely by a gap in available resources.

“Single moms have more constraints,” department chair and co-author Suzanne Bianchi said. “We start under the assumption that mothers want to do well by their children, but these mothers — particularly the never-married mothers — have very low percentages that have much edu-

FREE CLASSIFIEDS Run your classified for 4 consecutive days and receive the 5th day

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THE PARENT COMPARISON Average daily hours of maternal time with children Married mothers: 6 hours Divorced mothers: 5.6 hours Never married mothers: 5.8 hours Average annual household income Married mothers: $63,000 Divorced mothers: $32,000 Never married mothers: $30,000 Percent earned college degree or higher Married mothers: 36.4 percent Divorced mothers: 16.6 percent Never married mothers: 9.9 percent

cation beyond high school ... that implies what kind of jobs they can get and how many hours they would have to work to support a family.”

When compared to married mothers of the same socio-economic demographic, however, the differences in the amount of time devoted to child care disappeared, researchers said.

“We were surprised that the differences, given how different [single mothers’] situations are from married mothers’ — even though single moms spend a little less time with their kids — the differences aren’t huge,” Bianchi said.

“We were able to show that if were to compare single moms to married moms who were similar in terms of education and work hours, they turn out to be very similar.”

Students from single-mother households said this study is common sense and should not be necessary to prove to the world that single parents are competent parents, too.“I was always around my mother when I was little,” said sophomore sociology and family science major Khrysta Evans, who was raised by her single mom. “I think, a lot of times, single parents are kind of bet-

ter than married parents, because they don’t have anyone else to depend on, so they know that they have to do everything if it’s going to get done at all, whereas a married parent, to some extent, can push [responsibilities] off on their husband or wife. My mom was from a single-parent household, too, and she made sure she was there for me.”

But, researchers say single mothers typically get a bad reputation and those behind the study hope it will be seen as a step toward improving the image of single mothers.

“There’s this stereotype that revolves around single mothers,” Kendig said. “And it’s always bothered me how they get this bad rap. They’re not worse mothers. They do spend less time with their children, but it’s not because they care less. We can explain all the difference in the time by education, employment and opportunity, and that means that people don’t have to believe all these other reasons like how much they care about their children to explain anything.

We need to break down these stereotypes.” langdbk@gmail.com

fliers, and you see students just shove them in their pockets and never read them,” Lipsey said. “But people read the sign; it draws their attention. It’s a short message you can read quickly.”

Capt. John Brandt, director of Crime Prevention for the University Police, said many students don’t necessarily protect their dorm rooms and off-campus residences like they would their homes. He said locking doors and windows and being skeptical of strangers who wander inside is critical to ensuring their valuables and safety.

“Some burglars will walk right into rooms to see if anyone’s inside,” Brandt said. “If there is someone, they’ll cover by asking for change or asking if someone else lives there. But consider this: How would your parents feel if someone walked into your home and asked for change? Students don’t have that mindset. This is their constitutional home. They need to protect it.”

In dorms, Brandt said a burglar can steal valuables in as little as 15 seconds.

Many students keep precious things on or in their desk or in the first two drawers of their bureau.

Brandt also said some criminals only take a few bills out of wallets, which can cast suspicion on the victim’s roommates.

Senior history major and Knox Road resident Josh Bosstick said his house has been burglarized several

“We’re really careful to lock our doors and windows at night.”

JOSH BOSSTICK KNOX ROAD RESIDENT

times in the year and a half he has lived there. Intruders have entered the house by taking out air conditioning units in the windows and then stolen electronics.

A recent sexual assault that occurred on their block has raised their already heightened awareness, including that of Bosstick’s female roommate.

“She was really scared,” he said. “We’re really careful to lock our doors and windows at night. We still have one more air conditioning unit in a window, and she wants us to take it out.”

Lipsey said county police will soon be unveiling a new campaign called SafeNet, which is aimed at giving residents tips for preventing theft and burglary. He added county police, and University Police are trying to plan a joint safety event for students, but nothing has been finalized.

Brandt said there is usually an increase in thefts toward the end of the semester. There was also a burglary spree that hit 20 houses during last winter break. goondbk@gmail.com

Time frame for online process still undecided RHA, from Page 1 invite others to join their group by entering their friends’ e-mail addresses.

Students can join one group of each size to increase their chances of securing housing.

Once a group is formed, the creator sets the room preferences for the group.

Leaders make an ordered list of individual rooms, floors, buildings or entire communities where the group prefers to live.

When the system runs, a group receives its preferred rooms according to its priority numbers, with larger groups going first. At the end of the process, students without a room are randomly assigned a space.

The time frame of the new process remains undecided.

“That’s something that I want people to give me their feedback on,” Dimakas said.

The process could be run all in one day, or it could be staggered, with the largest groups going first, and smaller groups going on the following days.

If the process were run all at once, students who don’t plan ahead could be in trouble. If a student were only part of a group of three, for example, and one of the other group members found a spot with a separate group of four, the three-person group would be down to two

members. The remaining students would then be unable to secure spots in triples, leaving them at the mercy of the random assignment process unless they were also part of a group of two.

“We’re going to have to do our homework,” Leonardtown Senator Taylor Cole said.

Despite the details, members of the committee said the online system would simplify the room selection process.

“I had no idea what was going on” under the current system, Cole, a sophomore, said.

Under the system, students have to attend room assignment meetings held in the Stamp Student Union throughout April to secure a space based on their priority numbers. Meetings for more desirable locations, such as South Hill, are held before meetings for less desirable ones, such as traditional residence halls. Students may have to attend multiple meetings to find a space.

“Moving to online processes in general helps students to do business efficiently,” Resident Life Director Deborah Grandner said after the meeting. “It sounds like students are very supportive of the idea.” coxdbk@gmail.com

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THE DIAMONDBACK | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

Opinion

THE DIAMONDBACK

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Staff Editorial

Guest Column

Everybody wins

Something you can be thankful for

he relationship between the university and its students is sometimes tory. In prominently displaying the sculptures, the university is doing more than viewed in simplistic terms. Students fork over tuition, spend four publicly demonstrating its commitment to artistic pursuits; it is also endorsing years or so learning some things, get a diploma marking their aca- the work and skill of its students. Last year, an undergraduate history course was demic success (or at least their passing ability), and go off to do their developed to investigate the role that slavery may have played in the university’s history. It is an enormous demonstration of confidence for an institution to work in the world. entrust students with its history — with its very identity.

But that relationship needs to be rethought. Learning should This is the principle behind shared governance, having stunot be a passive process, where students simply receive informadents play a role in the school’s administration, by serving in tion from professors. The university should not be a place where the contemplative life is divorced from a life of purposeful The university and students the University Senate, on the Stamp Student Union Advisory Board and the like. Students benefit from the experience, action. In that spirit, universities should not consider students are in a symbiotic and from the responsibility, and the university has more as tuition checks and alumni donations; students are the lifeblood of the institution. As it continues to strive for excel- relationship, administrators broadly based leadership with a better idea of the interests should cultivate. and concerns of the student body. The university has worked lence, the university has taken some steps to invest in students, hard to attract an increasingly bright and talented group of and empower them to reshape the institution. This is a trend 25,000 undergraduates — they should invest in their development, and harness that should be continued and expanded.

As part of a public art class, students created a five sculptures, now displayed their potential. This idea is important for the university to more fully realize and across the campus. The students received great benefits in creating a publicly dis- expand, because, ultimately, it’s simply too big a place for administrators to played sculpture, benefits that cannot be had through simply studying art his- achieve their vision on their own.

T

Our View

Editorial Cartoon: Shai Goller

College Park: If you build it, they will come

B

y now, you’ve probably heard that there’s a Five Guys Burgers and Fries in College Park, and chances are, you’ve been there once or twice or even 10 times. It isn’t open late enough to take advantage of the post-last-call crowds, but Five Guys seems to be doing pretty well — well enough, at least, to justify opening a new location five minutes away from the store it opened earlier this year in Hyattsville. But is it here to stay? I wouldn’t be so sure.

You could say that any place that specializes in cheap, junky food is destined to be a big success on Route 1. But try telling that to the Fractured Prune, Curry Express, JD’s Roadhouse, Tasti D-Lite, Eats (extra credit to anyone who remembers it, let alone actually ate there), Moe’s Southwest Grill (which had two locations — one at Route 1 and Hartwick Road and another next to IKEA) and, of course, our beloved Wawa, which was a convenience store,

DAN

REED but managed to be cheapest and junkiest of all. Every single one of these establishments opened its doors sometime within the past four years, thinking it’d get lines out the door like Chipotle does now, only to fail miserably.

Take Fractured Prune, for instance. It started out as a seasonal business, open only during the summer on the boardwalk in Ocean City. By default, all businesses in College Park operate seasonally. But a donut shop in Ocean City will make much more money in three months than a donut shop in College Park will in nine, merely because it’ll get more traffic from beachgoers. Not to

mention, of course, that college students in school tend to be very frugal, but those same students — along with their friends and significant others and parents and siblings — will gladly spend money while on vacation.

On the other hand, seasonal traffic may not be as big of an issue in College Park, where we’ve got 26,000 year-round residents and hundreds of thousands more in surrounding towns who could eat here when school’s out. And they do, to an extent. If you go to school here, don’t have a car and don’t feel like exploring, Route 1 is about the only place where you can spend money. But if you’re from here, you’ve got choices — malls in Hyattsville and Greenbelt and much nicer malls in Silver Spring and Bethesda, and so on. There you can have your burger and go buy a television or a pair of shoes, or just people-watch. In downtown College Park, you can have a burger, mosey on over to Cornerstone and drink away the rest of your day. But

for the majority of post-graduate individuals, this is no way to live.

When Five Guys first opened, it had one location in Arlington, Va., and it made that city a destination for burger fans. That’s what College Park needs — a destination that isn’t a football game. If we want to ensure the economic health of our local businesses, we need to diversify. That doesn’t just mean bringing back Curry Express. It means drawing businesses that sell televisions or shoes or something you can’t find anywhere else, so when the university crowd goes on break, they can draw customers and compete against the region’s other shopping destinations.

So is Five Guys here to stay? Maybe, but only if all the other vacancies in College Park aren’t filled by more burger joints.

Dan Reed is a senior architecture and English major. He can be reached at reeddbk@gmail.com.

Life: Keep your eyes open, it moves quickly

E

very time we visit my relatives in New York, my parents feel the need to take me on their grade-school tour. First, my dad shows us his old elementary school. Then, my mom shows us her middle school. “The school used to be this color,” he’ll say. “I used to play on the monkey bars over there,” she’ll say. It continues, but I’ll spare you the additional details.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the only way to see change is to be removed from something for a period of time.

It all started when I got home for Thanksgiving.

Upon entering the house, my dog, as usual, went crazy. After a few minutes (OK, about 15 minutes), he calmed down. At that point, I looked down at him and immediately noticed something.

No, not the fact that he lives the life I want to live one day: He was getting gray! When I mentioned this to

my parents, they said they hadn’t noticed. They are around my dog everyday, and therefore, they didn’t notice the incremental change.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I went back to work at Costco. During the past four months that I hadn’t worked, many products had changed, while others had different packaging. When I mentioned this to some of my co-workers, they looked at me like I was crazy — one even asked me how I could have possibly noticed.

When you’re around something every day, you don’t notice the changes. But when you are removed for a period of time, you appreciate it that much more.

We’re always going to notice the big changes. For example, my first night home during Thanksgiving break, I was getting ready to go to bed when I entered the bathroom to brush my teeth. I immediately realized we only had Crest toothpaste.

JOEL

COHEN I don’t know about you, but for me, the thought of switching toothpaste is like our campus at night: scary.

All this talk of change got me thinking: How much do we miss on a daily basis? Change happens slowly over time, but many times, we are too caught up in our own lives to notice it. This holds true on a college campus, but it also holds true in the real world. Many parents coming through my checkout line this past weekend at Costco seemed more concerned with satisfying the wants of their children than enjoying the holiday season.

Many of these parents will say,

“They grow up too fast,” but maybe it’s the parents who aren’t noticing the changes.

We often get too caught up in what’s due tomorrow or the most recent friend request on Facebook to notice the changes on the campus and in the rest of society. When my parents came to the campus two weekends ago, they both noticed the half-complete Knight Hall. I realized that I have passed by the building at least once a week the whole year, yet I had not thought twice about it up until that point.

Before I left to come back to the campus this past Sunday night, I thought about visiting my old elementary school — after all, it has been more than 10 years since my last visit.

Maybe next time.

Joel Cohen is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at jcohendbk@gmail.com.

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

NED CURRY This time, there was no ticker-tape parade. The president did not address the nation; the soldiers did not all come home; and the newspapers did not plaster their front pages with bold-faced letters. But make no mistake about it: On Thanksgiving Day, the United States achieved a major victory in the war on terror.

It is on that day that Iraq’s parliament signed the Status of Forces Agreement with the United States.

The agreement declares that all U.S. troops will clear out of Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and will leave the country entirely by Dec. 31, 2011.

The SOFA must pass an Iraqi referendum by July 2009, but with American soldiers out of Iraqi cities, it is unlikely the Iraqi people will vote against the measure.

And make no mistake about it, this agreement would not be possible without the blood, sweat and toil of the United States’ all-volunteer military. Since the war started in March 2003, two presidents have been elected, six Thanksgiving dinners have been served, and four generals have been in charge. The most recent general to command the Multi-National Force-Iraq was Gen. David H. Petraeus. Replaced in September by Gen. Raymond Odierno, Petraeus changed what was sure to be a losing war into a winning one.

In fact, Petraeus inherited such a bad situation in Iraq that in April 2007 — less than three months into Petraeus’ command— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared, “I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything.”

The truth, however, is much more comforting. Since October of last year, civilian casualties have decreased by 76 percent, high-profile attacks have decreased by 70 percent and ethno-sectarian violence has gone down 96 percent, according to the White House. Not bad for a war we’d already lost. Meanwhile, our soldiers are already starting to come home. All five brigade combat teams from the surge have returned, along with two Marine battalions, a Marine Expeditionary Unit and thousands of soldiers from other coalition countries.

So why is the signing of the SOFA such a significant achievement? It represents the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq and an end in which the United States emerges victorious. In April 2007, when the Senate was embroiled in a debate to fund the war, the Democrats wanted funding tied to a timeline for withdrawal, while the Republicans wanted any decision on withdrawal based upon conditions on the ground. With the signing of the SOFA, the Democrats and Republicans both get what they wanted: a timeline for withdrawal that is based upon conditions on the ground. For the first time since the beginning of the war, the security situation in Iraq can allow U.S. troops to come home without severely jeopardizing the country’s future as a democratic nation. In short, victory is at hand.

The SOFA with Iraq is the culmination of a president who refused to accept defeat, a general who saw the path to victory and a military that did whatever it was asked and more. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”

This Thanksgiving, the United States has good reason to give thanks.

We’re moving on to better things.

Ned Curry is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at ecurry2@umd.edu.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK

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Features HOROSCOPESTELLA WILDER

CROSSWORD 40 41 44 47 49

50 53 54 55 56

Glimpses Tackle Not as big Blue Sleeve parts

57 Fourth-down option 59 Luigi’s farewell 60 Embraced

Cleans up Shortages Leave out Curse La senorita

ACROSS 65 Square pillar 1 Flag waver?

66 Mooring site 5 Snug as — — ...

67 Birthday party 9 Petty quarrels essential 14 A Great Lake 68 Coconut source 15 Type of wrestler 69 Rips 16 Mukluk wearer 70 Chocolate candy 17 Soapstone 71 Skywalker’s sage 18 Obstacle 19 — incognita DOWN 20 Crept 1 Dampens 22 More froggy 2 OPEC member 24 Likewise 3 World’s longest 26 Hill builder river 27 Gem surfaces 4 Ten-year periods 30 Within reach 5 Investments 35 Clean a slate 6 Tube pan 36 Skywalker, finally 7 Emma in 37 Mountain range “The Avengers” near China 8 Vincent van — 38 Circle part 9 Colossal ones 39 Language course 10 Slugishness 42 Wabash loc.

11 Luxury coats 43 Decays 12 Harden bricks 45 Steady 13 Black hole, once 46 Cup fraction 21 Paper toys 48 Thong, maybe 23 Watering hole 50 Notebook 25 Ballpark events 51 Indiana Jones 27 Is suspicious quest 28 Turn signal 52 Cut drastically 29 Spiny plants 54 Egyptian 31 Wednesday’s god monument 32 Window covering 58 Diplomat 33 Knight’s weapon 62 Shopping venues 34 Diving duck 63 Have a rash 36 Coffee or island

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You are able to shift gears and turn on a dime, and if it means that you are criticized for seeming inconsistency, so be it. You understand that what you do you do for you alone; the perceptions of others do not matter much to you, whether they are positive or negative.

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) — You have an exciting day in store, but you must be sure that you don’t let circumstances dictate your actions. Stay in control.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) — You may have to play a frustrating round of cat-and-mouse with a rival before you pin him or her down and get the information you need.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — You mustn’t impose your expectations on those who are not willing to play along. You may have to go it alone, if necessary.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — An important though cloudy issue is likely to be cleared up before the day is out. A friend or loved one may have a bone to pick with you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Appearance is not as important as function. Be sure that you do your job; how you look doing it is only a passing concern.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — Major rewards are in the offing for the one who steps forward and takes charge. Do you have what it takes to be a leader?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — This is no time to let yourself get caught up in a cause that doesn’t involve your family. Your attention must be on loved ones.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — What you don’t say can prove far more important than anything you do say — and people will be listening for what you leave out.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Your intuitions are likely to be spot on, particularly where the motives of others are concerned. You can solve a big mystery.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK

7

Diversions

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE The Washington Jewish Film Festival opens tomorrow The Washington Jewish Film Festival opens tomorrow night with the premier U.S. screening of Australian film Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger. For Tripp Laino’s review of the film and Strangers, another film screening during the festival, just click the Diversions tab at:

arts. music. living. movies. weekend.

A scene from Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger.

WWW.DIAMONDBACKONLINE.COM

COLUMN | THE TELEVISIONARY

vital video

Heroes needs a savior After a stellar start, NBC’s Heroes has tapered off into faulty storylines THOMAS

FLOYD

“Villains,” the third volume of the NBC sci-fi drama, Heroes, is hurtling toward a stunning conclusion. In just five days, we will finally learn whether anyone can thwart the evil Arthur Petrelli (Robert Forster) and save the world from his grasp.

It’s all very exciting — or it would be, if the show was still worth watching.

Two years removed from the magic of its gripping first season, Heroeshas lost its touch with audiences and critics alike. The series’s initial volume used a balanced combination of character-driven episodes and mindblowing plot twists to garner both high ratings and a 2007 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.

Time travel, flashbacks and intersecting plot threads meticulously built toward an intense finale that year. The program’s comic book roots gave Heroes a distinctive style, and who could forget the popular slogan, “Save the Cheerleader. Save the World.”

But this season — which is split into two volumes, titled “Villains” and “Fugitives” — hardly resembles that stellar first campaign.

The decline for Heroes started last fall, with its strike-shortened second season. The show’s writers relegated enthusiastic time-bender Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka) and murderous villain Sylar (Zachary Quinto) to underwhelming subplots, while far less interesting characters took center stage.

Crucial scenes filling the gaps between volumes one and two were held until late in the season, leaving viewers simply baffled for many of the episodes. With too much going on at once — a problem Heroes has had since day one but gotten away with in the past — the show deteriorated into little more than a convoluted mess.

Even creator Tim Kring recognized Heroes was in the middle of a major downward spiral. Returning to the show after limited involvement during season two, he pegged the third volume as the program’s triumphant comeback. Although “Villains” has been a slight improvement from that second volume, “Generations,” Heroes is still a far cry from the suspenseful

FLEET FOXES’ “BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS” (LIVE FROM THE BASEMENT) Nigel Godrich is the man. When the unofficial sixth member of Radiohead isn’t producing Beck, Paul McCartney or In Rainbows, he’s inviting bands over to play in his basement. From the Basement, Godrich’s online and Independent Film Channel show, features studio-like live performances produced by the man himself. A new season kicks off next year, but Godrich put up a few clips as a primer. The standout is Fleet Foxes’ serene “Blue Ridge Mountains,” which sounds as polished as ever through Godrich’s ears.

OPERATION HUMBLE KANYE

Heroes’ third season hasn’t lived up to the promise of the first.

storytelling of its mysterious first season.

Nothing can make a good show grow tiresome faster than overusing old plot devices, and Heroes certainly shows this to be true. Every season to date has followed the same formula — Hiro and Peter Petrelli (the angsty Milo Ventimiglia) go to the future, see what would happen if a certain crisis isn’t prevented and then go back in time to save the world.

It’s the same exact story — again and again. Sadly, that is just the start of Heroes’ many frustrating narrative missteps. For one, the fact that both Hiro and Peter can freeze time creates an unfathomable number of plot holes, and finally made the writers take away their powers. And apparently, whenever Kring decides they need to inject a little shock value, the show finds two characters who aren’t family and reveals — gasp! — that they’re related.

Heroes has also struggled with finding its focus during the last two seasons, wasting time introducing a slew of thoroughly forgettable characters (Caitlin, Monica, West, Alejandro and Maya, just to name a few), only to awkwardly cut their arcs short.

Heroes mainstays, meanwhile, have been working with subpar material for a while now. In “Villains,” Sylar’s tumultuous redemption storyline feels predictable, forced and tedious, while Suresh’s (Sendhil Ra-

COURTESY OF WATCHINGHEROES.COM

mamurthy) sudden turn to evil came across as completely implausible. As if those ridiculous plot threads weren’t bad enough, a romance blossoming between Elle (Kristen Bell) and Sylar — just days after he murdered her father — is so absurd, words can’t do it justice.

Though seemingly no one was safe from the Grim Reaper during the first volume, the show has monotonously continued with all of its regular cast members since then. Just to ensure they completely take away any semblance of true life-and-death stakes, the writers have pretended to kill off pretty much every main character by now.

While Niki Sanders actually did die in the season two finale, Heroes brought back actress Ali Larter as — get this — her newly discovered twin sister. Once a heavyweight on the primetime drama scene, Heroes currently has the plot developments of an afternoon soap opera.

Nowadays, only three things have made it worth flipping to NBC on Monday nights at 9 p.m.: Hayden Panettierre, Brea Grant and Bell. And if you’re a girl — or a guy who hates beautiful women for some reason — even they probably won’t do it.

Interestingly enough, it’s now Heroes that’s in need of saving. Go figure.

On The Colbert Report Monday night, Stephen Colbert was expecting to thank his fans for making the soundtrack to his Christmas special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All, No. 1 on iTunes, but there was one problem: Kanye West held the spot. And Colbert was none too pleased. Calling out West on his claim as the voice of this generation, Colbert decided to fight arrogance with arrogance, as only he knows how to do. For Operation Humble Kanye, Colbert is asking his fans to buy the soundtrack today at 5 p.m., with the goal of ousting West from the top spot. Let’s hope this ends in a Colbert vs. The Decemberists-like confrontation. Who doesn’t want to see Colbert own West on The Report?

For links to the full-length videos visit the site below:

WWW.DIAMONDBACKONLINE.COM

tfloyd1@umd.edu

INTERVIEW | FIRE IN THE HOLE

Boys just wanna have fun

BY LAUREN COHEN For The Diamondback

When it comes to inspiration, Towson-based band Fire In The Hole finds it in one another.

“We all feed off each other’s energy really, really well,” lead guitarist Michael Klicos said.

Klicos and drummer Brian Sturgeon both attend the university, while bassist Tim Davis and

keyboardist Matt Rampolla both attend Towson University. Lead singer and guitarist Zach Cummins has a full-time job and rounds out the five-piece band, which plays Santa Fe Cafe tonight.

The band released its first fulllength album, Love and Malice, on Nov. 21 — a six-month-long studio effort that cost the band more than $10,000 to create. To finance the album, the guys borrowed from

Towson-based band features two university students friends and family in addition to putting a lot of their own money into it.

“I think after our CD release, we’ve paid everyone else but ourselves back,” said Sturgeon, a junior communication major.

The album’s release is just one part of Fire In The Hole’s eventful year, which included playing some bigger shows, such as Towson’s annual Tigerfest, where the band opened for The Roots, Immortal Technique and The Calling.

“About a year ago, we decided to start taking it really seriously, so we got the right people in the band who are all on the same page, everybody who really wanted to take it seriously and take it further, and ever since then, things have been going so well for us,” Sturgeon said.

As far as music goes, Sturgeon said each band member’s personal preferences contribute to Fire In The Hole’s sound.

“That’s one thing about our band — there’s five of us, and we’re all five completely different in musical interests, musical tastes, musi-

cal styles,” Sturgeon said.

Sturgeon said he classifies the band’s sound as “rock ‘n’ roll with a psychedelic twist.” Personally, he’s into keeping up with current trends, while Klicos said he draws from heavy metal and classic rock.

Sturgeon said you’ll find this range of musical preferences in Love and Malice.

“The one thing we tried to do is we made all the songs as intricate as we could, and we spent a lot of time on every layer, but we made the lyrics and the vocals approachable so that people that don’t really have a whole lot of knowledge, or wealth of knowledge of music, could still get into it,” Sturgeon said.

If Fire In The Hole conveys any sort of message, it seems to center around one thing in particular: having a good time.

“Our lyrics are not like, ‘break up with your boyfriend and then listen to our song,’” Sturgeon said.

“Our music is like, ‘drink a lot and put our music on.’”

“It’s just fun music, you know?”

Klicos, a junior economics and international business major, said.

“Yeah, it’s heavy, and it’s upbeat, but it’s not dark,” Sturgeon added.

“It’s like feel-good rock ‘n’ roll.”

The desire for fun is something not only found in their music but in real life, as well.

“We have the best time with just the five of us; no one else understands, but that’s fine,” Sturgeon said.

As for goals, Sturgeon has a clear idea of what he would like to have happen.

“I hope that everything keeps snowballing in enough time that we can finish our degrees and get out of college and have that behind us and then right then, the day we graduate, start a tour,” he said. “So that in the event that we don’t have that forever, you know — even the biggest bands don’t last that long anymore — that we still have something to go back on.”

Fire In The Hole performs tonight at Santa Fe Cafe. Cover is $5. diversionsdbk@gmail.com

8

THE DIAMONDBACK | SPORTS | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

Bowls waiting right alongside Terps BOWLS, from Page 1

Guard Adrian Bowie is the Terps’ second leading scorer so far this season, despite his role as the team’s sixth man.

Similarly, Michigan’s second leading scorer, DeShawn Sims, doesn’t start either. ALLISON AKERS/THE DIAMONDBACK

Terps have never lost home game in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge MICHIGAN, from Page 10 1999, the Terps have never lost any of the event’s games when playing at home (4-0), as they will be doing tonight at the Comcast Center. Michigan, meanwhile, is below .500 on the road (1-2).

During that nine-year period, the Michigan basketball program has struggled, but with Beilein — who previously had great success at West Virginia — in his second year at the helm, the Wolverines look to be turning a corner.

So far this year, sophomore Manny Harris has been one of the top guards in the nation, averaging 22.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game against quality competition (Michigan lost to then-No. 10 Duke, in addition to playing UCLA). Like Terps guard Greivis Vasquez, Harris leads his team in all those categories, in addition to steals.

Another similarity to the Terps is Michigan’s immediate production from the bench.

Like Bowie, Wolverine forward DeShawn Sims (15.2 ppg) is his team’s second-leading scorer despite never having started this season.

“He’s not just a post player at 6-8, he’s a good 3-point shooter,” Williams said. “I noticed when they were down 20 to Savannah State at halftime, Sims did start the second half.”

The Wolverines pulled out that win against Savannah State, but it took overtime to do so, proving that inconsistency runs in their blood as well.

But after a disappointing performance in their final game at the Old Spice Classic, the Terps seem more concerned with themselves than their next opponent. The team watched plenty of game film from Sunday so they could hone in on their recent imper-

“You’re going to get good shots if the ball moves, no matter how good the other team’s defense is.”

GARY WILLIAMS MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH

fections.

Williams said he was pleased with the way his team responded in practice Monday, as he emphasized the point of ball movement to his team.

“You’re gonna get good shots if the ball moves, no matter how good the other team’s defense is,” Williams said.

“That’s what we’re going to have to do better against Michigan.” mseligdbk@gmail.com

Thanks to a rule that allows bowls to choose any bowl-eligible team provided it is within one conference victory of the remaining team with the highest conference-win total, the ACC bowls will be able to select any of the conference’s nine remaining bowl-eligible teams.

With 10 eligible teams and only nine bowl games, the Terps could, but likely won’t, be the odd team out.

But that doesn’t make their situation any less disappointing.

“Right now, we don’t have a whole lot of choice,” coach Ralph Friedgen said.

“We’ll go where we have to go. If we won [Saturday], we would’ve had a lot better options.”

The Terps are tied with Clemson, Wake Forest, N.C. State, North Carolina and Miami with four conference wins, but they defeated the Tigers, Demon Deacons, Tar Heels and Wolfpack during the regular season and didn’t play the Hurricanes. So, the Terps could have an argument as the fifth- or sixthplace team — behind the four with five wins — in the conference, but bowl committees will have their pick as to who they consider the most attractive teams.

Once the Chik-fil-A, Gator and Champs Sports bowls make their likely selections from the remaining five-win teams, the Terps could end up anywhere from the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, to the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn. In any case, there are a number of potential scenarios.

The most intriguing is a potential matchup between the Terps and rival West Virginia in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte,

“Right now, we don’t have a whole lot of choice. We’ll go where we have to go.”

RALPH FRIEDGEN FOOTBALL COACH

N.C. The Meineke Car Care Bowl receives the third selection of Big East teams — the Mountaineers are currently tied with Pittsburgh and Rutgers at 4-2 in conference play, behind only conference-champion Cincinnati — and will work with the Emerald and Music City bowls to determine which ACC teams go where. Bowl games typically prefer teams that finish the season strong, but the prospect of a rivalry game could give the Terps a needed boost after losing their final two games.

“That would be a very attractive game,” said Will Webb, executive director of the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

“A big rivalry, I think that would be a good game. I think the matchup with West Virginia would be something that would help fans overcome [the two losses].”

Another interesting scenario would be if the Terps were to fall to the EagleBank Bowl, which selects ninth. Navy is already slated to play in the EagleBank Bowl, and a matchup between two Maryland teams in the nation’s capital could be quite a local draw.

“It would be fantastic — I’m a huge Maryland fan,” said Steve Beck, executive director of the EagleBank Bowl. “It would be the hardest ticket to come by since the Redskins played at RFK [Stadium].”

But the EagleBank Bowl is the earliest bowl game on the schedule, played Dec.

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20, the last day of finals week at the university.

While the Terps, who would need to practice in the week leading up to whichever bowl they play in, would like to avoid playing so early, it remains unclear what they would decide if the EagleBank Bowl were their only option.

If such a scenario presented itself, the Terps could have the option to refuse the EagleBank Bowl — or any other ACC bowl — and hope for an at-large bid in one of the smaller, nonACC bowls. There are seven bids to smaller bowl games with affiliations to conferences that do not have enough bowl-eligible teams. For instance, the Independence Bowl will have two at-large spots because neither the SEC nor Big 12 have enough bowl-eligible teams to send.

Also unclear is which teams will be available for the Music City, Emerald and Meineke Car Care bowls to negotiate over. The erratic Terps will almost certainly be one of them, and the Emerald Bowl, in which the Terps played last year, is unlikely to select them again, so their most likely destinations are the Music City, Meineke Car Care or Humanitarian bowls.

But with every eligible ACC team up for grabs, the lower bowls are forced to wait until the larger bowls have made selections before they can review the remaining crop of teams.

“We can’t do anything before the four primary teams are gone,” Webb said.

“We’re playing wait and see at this point. We’ll see who’s available and what matchups we could have and then go from there.” jnewmandbk@gmail.com

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*Register your vote for the 2008-2009 Diamondback Readers’ Choice Awards. This is your chance to influence the paper that influences you! Make your opinion heard today. Entries will be randomly selected to win prizes from the following businesses**:

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Entry deadline: December 15th, 2008. Results will be published in The Diamondback’s Readers’ Choice Awards on January 28, 2009.

Please send or drop off completed entries (at least 15 blanks must be filled in to be counted or entered for prizes. 1 entry per person) to: Readers’ Choice Awards, c/o The Diamondback, 3136 S. Campus Dining Hall, UMCP, College Park, MD 20742 or drop them off to 3136 South Campus Dining Hall.

Or, this survey can be filled out online. Go to Diamondbackonline.com. Click on Readers’ Choice survey button. **Prizes subject to change.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK

9

Terps on the run Women’s basketball team is as athletic as ever this year

BY AARON KRAUT

2008

Senior staff writer

It’s not every day a Terrapin women’s basketball player will admit a player on this year’s team is doing something better than former frontcourt stars Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper.

To veteran Marissa Coleman, the combination of freshman center Lynetta Kizer and junior college transfer forward Demauria Liles already have a leg up on Langhorne and Harper, both now in the WNBA, in at least one facet of the game.

“No knock to Lang or Harp, but Dee — her athleticism, the way she can get down the floor. And Lynetta gets down the floor great,” Coleman said. “I definitely think we have potential to be a better transition team than last year.”

It’s a strong statement from the senior forward, who played three seasons and won a national championship with Langhorne and Harper. But so far, fellow senior Kristi Toliver, who starts most of the No. 8 Terps’ fast break opportunities, said she has seen the same development.

“This is probably the most athletic group that I’ve played with here,” Toliver said. “It’s going to be really fun, especially as a point guard, to have an athletic team that loves to get down the floor.”

Toliver, who looks to push the tempo whenever possible, has mentioned how excited she is about the transition opportunities Liles and Kizer can provide several times already this season.

And while the fast break numbers haven’t been eyecatching as of yet, there is a

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Forward Demauria Liles has wowed her teammates with her spectacular athleticism. She is a standout in a Terp frontcourt that can really run the floor this year. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

noticeable feeling within the team that the transition game is going to distinguish this year’s Terps (6-1) from last season’s Elite 8 squad.

“We’re still looking for improvement in that area,” coach Brenda Frese said. “I do think Lynetta and Dee run the floor probably the best we’ve had here. But I’d like to see us get more easy transition opportunities, and I think as the season unfolds we should be able to.”

It’s not as if the fast

break game was rare when Langhorne and Harper were around. Both regularly got down the floor for easy layups on assists from Toliver, Coleman and the team’s other guards. But Liles in particular has the potential to bring the Terps’ transition game to another level.

In the Terps’ Nov. 20 win against James Madison, Liles showed her athleticism by jumping a passing lane for a steal and drib-

bling past everyone on her way to an open reverse layup opportunity in the Terps’ first defensive sequence. In other games, she has blocked an opponents’ shot, then beat the person she was guarding down to the other end of the court, giving the Terps something a lot of teams don’t have.

“She’s phenomenal,” Frese said. “She’s off the chart in terms of her athleticism, and she runs the floor like a guard, so it definitely gives matchup nightmares for other teams.”

Kizer, who made it known before the season started she was a more transitionoriented player than her frontcourt predecessors, has done an effective job finishing several fast break layups.

But even Kizer has praise for her fellow big.

“Dee is like a jackrabbit,” Kizer said. “She just takes off, and once she goes I just feed off of her energy, so we’re doing a lot better job getting up and down the floor just to keep that fastpace game that we have here at Maryland.”

But Kizer admitted both she and Liles must continue to get better at finishing fast break plays in order to back up their veteran teammates’ bold statements.

“I think that’s one thing that me and [Liles] are working on right now,” Kizer said. “We’re improving. We’re getting better right now.” akrautdbk@gmail.com

Defensive midfielder Matt Kassel has seen limited action but should be back for Saturday. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

Kassel’s return helps Terps on set pieces NOTEBOOK, from Page 10 might be needed as the Terps continue their run to the College Cup with their quarterfinal matchup against Creighton on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m feeling a lot better,” Kassel said. “I’m coming back and I’m progressing.

I’m just trying to get better for game time [Saturday].”

Kassel is back practicing with the team full time, though Marchiano still started the Terps’ game against Cal.

CREIGHTON’S ODD SEED The Terps’ opponent Saturday, Creighton, was ranked No. 2 in the final NSCAA/Adidas poll behind Wake Forest and only lost once this season. But for their efforts, the Blue Jays were awarded the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, meaning they have to get past the No. 2-seed Terps in College Park to

win the region and advance to the College Cup. One of the reasons for that demotion was the Blue Jays’ schedule. Creighton didn’t have many opportunities to beat top-flight teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, and as a result, their pre-conference tournament RPI was 10th in the nation. The Terps had the No. 4 RPI in the country.

But Cirovski wasn’t dissuaded by those numbers while talking about Creighton yesterday. Under coach Bob Warming, the Blue Jays have become one of the nation’s soccer powers and have been in the past 15 NCAA tournaments.

“I think they have some similarities to us and they have a great pedigree,” Cirovski said. “You look at their history they’re one of the top programs of the last 15 years.” akrautdbk@gmail.com

TERRAPINTRAIL.COM | TERRAPINTRAIL.COM | TERRAPIN TRAIL.COM

10

THE DIAMONDBACK | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008

Sports

Men’s soccer NCAA tournament quarterfinals* No. 8-seed South Florida No. 1-seed Wake Forest

22-1-1 No. 6-seed Indiana 15-4-3 No. 3-seed St. John’s

14-6-3 18-2-3

Unseeded Northwestern No. 13-seed North Carolina

15-4-3 No. 7-seed Creighton 13-7-1 No. 2-seed TERRAPINS

18-1-2 20-3-0

*all games to be played Saturday on higher seed’s home field

TERRAPIN MEN’S SOCCER NOTEBOOK

Gonzalez named Hermann semifinalist

BY AARON KRAUT Senior staff writer

Last Saturday’s 2-1 win against California wasn’t the only accomplishment of the day for Terrapin men’s soccer defender Omar Gonzalez.

The 6-foot-5 center back was named one of 15 MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalists for college soccer’s player of the year. The junior from Dallas has been a solid part of the Terps’ at times dominant defensive unit. He’s also used his unique skill set as a converted forward to score five goals and record one assist on the year, including the first goal in the round-of-16 win against Cal. “It’s a real prestigious award,” Gonzalez said. “I know the last [Terp] that made it to the semifinal was Stephen King, and he was one of our big-time players, and I feel a great honor to be on that same caliber. But I’m really happy to be a Terp and make it to the semifinals.”

King was named a semifinalist last season. But he was a midfielder and had more opportunities to score — and to make an impact on the trophy committee.

“Naturally, those awards typically go to attacking players,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “It’s a tremendous honor for him and for our program.

We’ve constantly been able to put a guy into that list of honorees, and we’ve got some future ones on the team too.”

Gonzalez was named 2007 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, an award which Wake Forest defender Ike Opara won this season, but continued to improve his game.

“He’s improved every year, and I think he’s one of the top Terp bigmen Braxton Dupree (left) and Jerome Burney (right) will take on a Michigan team that plays an odd 1-3-1 zone defense that makes ball movement crucial. ADAM FRIED/THE DIAMONDBACK

Michigan D will be tough Wolverines beat then-No. 4 UCLA earlier this season

BY MARK SELIG Senior staff writer

Against Georgetown on Sunday, the Terrapin men’s basketball team scored 48 points, its lowest offensive output since 1995. Coach Gary Williams said his players were selfish with the ball from the onset, and the lack of teamwork was responsible for the Terps’ moribund 31.6 percent shooting from the field.

Tonight in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the Terps offense may need to rely on last game’s deficiencies — ball movement and shooting — more than usual, as a tricky 1-3-1 zone defense from John Beilein’s Michigan Wolverines (5-1) awaits.

“It’s something you don’t see every game, probably

the only 1-3-1 we’ll see all year,” guard Eric Hayes said.

“They’re pretty aggressive. We saw UCLA had a lot of trouble with that, so that’s something we need to work on.”

The Wolverine defense has held opponents to 57.8 points per game this season and helped Michigan key a 55-52 upset victory over then-No. 4 UCLA two weeks ago.

To beat a zone defense like Beilein’s 1-3-1, it is crucial that the offense moves the basketball crisply and quickly in order to keep defenders a step behind.

But that’s merely step one.

If the Terps shooters obtain good looks, they must convert their shots — something they failed to do with the few open chances they had against Georgetown.

Terps vs. Michigan Where: Comcast Center When: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN “That’s a concern for us; we’ve been shooting the ball from the outside, not very [well],” Hayes said.

“If we can’t knock down shots, they’re going to stay in their zone the whole game,” guard Adrian Bowie said.

Since the ACC-Big Ten Challenge’s inception in

Please See MICHIGAN, Page 8

Junior Omar Gonzalez, who won ACC Defensive Player of the Year last season, was named a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy given to the top player in the country. JACLYN BOROWSKI/THE DIAMONDBACK

players in college soccer,” Cirovski said. “He’s just a dominant player. His game has matured on the field, and he as a person has matured off the field. And you’re seeing a great progression of a big time player.”

KASSEL RETURNS Midfielder Matt Kassel finally returned to action in the second half of Saturday’s game against Cal after sitting out three games with a right foot contusion he suffered early in the Terps’ Nov. 12 ACC tournament quarterfinal win against North Carolina.

The freshman, who has

2008

MEN’S SOCCER

recorded seven assists this year mostly on set pieces, played just over 12 minutes and was replaced by defender Kevin Tangney for defensive purposes as the Terps tried to hold on to their 2-1 lead.

While senior captain Michael Marchiano has stepped into the starting role at defensive midfield that Kassel held all season and performed well, Kassel’s ability

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