The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.

It is no secret that the political divide in America is deepening. Groups like the Tea Party, the Libertarian Movement, the Democratic Socialists and the Green Party have strengthened their hold in the political arena. Framing these two sides of the aisle as diametrically opposed is not new; critics have raved about the “fundamentalist” conservatives or the “socialist” liberals for decades. However, as we move further into this new era characterized by increased polarization and political animus, the right versus left debate becomes more aggressive and heated. 

As always, companies have found a way to profit off of this. In the technology age, media consumption of all kinds- print, visual, audio, but above all, video broadcasts- are ubiquitous and incredibly influential. Media conglomerates such as MSNBC, CNN, ABC, and FOX are selling a product (news) in hopes of making profit (measured by viewership). 

Conflict is inherently more entertaining and marketable than cohesion. It is obvious, then, that these networks would take advantage of the contentious hotbed of angst and debate that is the current political arena. The more conflict displayed on news networks, the higher the viewership, and the more money the company makes. Channels find ways to manipulate and exacerbate this turbulence to rake in profit. 

The purpose of any debate should be to find a solution to an issue, either by persuading one side to another’s point of view, or, at least, to create common ground. However, by using the differences between party ideology as grounds for personal controversy and lively attacks, media companies inhibit opportunities for politicians (and members of different parties) to find common ground to be able to work together. 

Most (if not all) of major news networks have at least one political debate show. “Morning Joe” and “Hardball” on MSNBC, “Outnumbered” and “The Five” on FOX, “Crossfire” on CNN, even “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO and “The View” on ABC are all examples of shows that profit off the voyeuristic appeal of televised political conflict. These major networks frame political debates as cage fights between bitter foes instead of opportunities for differing viewpoints to come together and find a workable solution

This issue is a bit like the chicken and the egg, to be sure: networks need to make more money, conflict increases viewership, and the political arena contains disagreements, so networks air programs that showcase these debates as aggressive and entertaining conflicts. However, because the 24/7 news cycle is rife with this conflict, viewers become disillusioned with the idea of finding common ground with those of differing political ideologies. 

This then furthers the political divide between Democrats and Republicans both in Congress, lower level governments, and in citizens’ everyday lives. Of course, this is not helped by the very palpable presence of political bubbles all over the country; however, networks that have a 24 hour news cycle, national broadcast range, and massive viewership have  

In the “real world,” nothing is ever as black-and-white as TV. No one is a “true” Democrat or Republican. The platforms are seen as stagnant and uncompromising; however, an individual is anything but. Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is pro-death penalty and against progressive taxation, while conservative political comentator Tomi Lahren is pro-choice. Republican Maryland governor Larry Hogan is pro-gun control, anti-fracking, and has repeatedly criticized Trump’s opinions and actions, both before and while in office. Former Republican presidential candidate and current Utah senator Mitt Romney downplayed his own Republican political affiliation in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race (which he won), and is the only Republican to vote against Trump in the recent impeachment proceedings. 

The Republican and Democratic ideologies are not diametrically opposed. Although the alt-right and Democratic socialists splinter off from each end of the spectrum, the majority of Americans are both socially and fiscally moderate; why does the political arena not reflect that? Of course, there is a fair amount of moral condemnation of each side by each side, but in the basic political spectrum, both Democratic and Republican parties are, of themselves, moderate. Pitting right against left in a televised shouting match forces middle America to “pick a side” and stick to it, which forces differences between individuals and beliefs that didn’t originally exist.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Pathways Programs - Apply Now!

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/558102000

Overview 

The Centers for Medicare Services (CMS) values the contributions made by students and recent graduates of all backgrounds. We continually benefit from a diverse workforce that includes students and recent graduates who infuse the workplace with their enthusiasm, talents, and unique perspectives. The Pathways Programs include three separate tiers, the Internship program, the Recent Graduates Program, and the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program. CMS also uses the Student Volunteer Program to fill non-paid internship positions.  A full description of each program may be found below.

Recent Graduates Program - OPEN NOW!!

The Recent Graduates Program affords participants developmental experiences at CMS intended to promote possible careers to individuals who have recently graduated within the previous two years from qualifying educational institutions. This one-year program is designed to provide an opportunity to those individuals who lack experience to participate in Federal government jobs, enabling them to develop on the job as they establish their career. Successful candidates are placed in a developmental program with the potential to lead to permanent employment at CMS.

Eligibility

·         Recent graduates who have completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution.

·         Veterans unable to apply within two years of receiving their degree, due to military service obligation, have as much as six years after degree or certificate completion to apply.

CMS Recent Graduate Opportunities - OPEN NOW!!!

CMS sometimes recruits for the Recent Graduates Program as an agency-wide effort around the normal graduation timeframes.  Additionally, managers may request to recruit for individual Recent Graduates at any time throughout the year.  All Recent Graduates are assigned a mentor and required to complete at least 40 hours of formal, interactive training during the program.  

Please follow the instructions below to apply.

This semester, the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, will be suspending its access to new titles in Kanopy. This change comes as a result of the unsustainable cost of providing unlimited access through an automatic licensing model. By the end of the fall semester, we had fully expended the amount that was allocated to Kanopy for the entire year.

Kanopy's pricing model for libraries was based on views per title. Once a title was viewed three times for longer than 30 seconds on the fourth viewing we were charged a licensing fee of $150 for one year of access.

We understand and respect how popular streaming media is and that it can be an invaluable instructional resource. We regret having to make this change. But we could not sustain our access to Kanopy. Until the licenses expire, users will still be able to watch and stream all of our currently licensed films in Kanopy (approximately 307 titles).

UMBC is not alone in having made this difficult choice. Many libraries have either dropped their Kanopy collections or are working with Kanopy to provide access to a very limited collection. We will be working with Kanopy to see if a limited access collection might be feasible.

Other options for streaming and viewing video

We have a number of other streaming video platforms available to the UBMC community. For a complete list, please see our Resources for Streaming Media guide

We also have an extensive DVD and Blu-Ray collection. The titles are listed in our Library Catalog and are also browsable in the 2^nd floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery.

The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.

It’s no surprise that college students are familiar with the idea of prioritizing their studies over sleep. The stress of maintaining the grade requirements for your major while having a social life can be overbearing for many students. STEM students in particular struggle constantly to balance the importance of their mental health and classes.

As a STEM major myself, I recognize that a lot of the courses that I’m required to take before I can get to my major-specific courses are very challenging. Many people refer to these as “weed-out” classes, meaning that they challenge students early to determine which ones can handle the pressure.

Professors in each of these classes assign a decent amount of work to encourage the student to practice while also stating that around 15 to 20 hours of studying a week is necessary for each course. For a student who is starting with several of these courses, the task becomes unbearable. Students begin to prioritize their classes over other activities, even if it means putting their mental or emotional health at risk.

A course load of these types of classes strongly affects students’s ability to be involved on campus. Every new student is encouraged to seek out clubs and activities that pique their interest. As a result, many students find groups that they enjoy. However, this can soon be interrupted when students are given the workload of all their classes. The time expected to focus on each course leaves little time for these extracurricular activities. The student then either quits the club to focus on studies or overloads themselves with expectations. Both results have a negative impact on the student.

The effect these classes have on mental health is very prominent throughout campus. Every day, I hear students talking about how they stayed up till the early morning hours to finish an assignment. It appears to be a common trend with a lot of students. They focus on going to class and attending all their meetings throughout the day, leaving their work for the evening where they could possibly get stuck for hours on difficult concepts. While it is true that some students procrastinate, many just need more time to get the work finished. So instead of putting their social lives aside, they balance work with life by sacrificing their own mental health.

It’s clear to me that we need to stop making students choose between their social lives and mental health. College is meant to be challenging, but not to the extent that students will suffer. While these classes may be important to prepare students for their future, there’s no reason for all of them to push their students so hard. A lot of the responsibility for these classes is put onto the students as it becomes an impossible weight to bear. Rather than trying to scare students out of their major, schools should be pushing their students to succeed in these classes. This means spacing out the workload and allowing students more time to work out problems and understand the material while also maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

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UMBC’s swimming and diving teams celebrated strong performances at the 2020 America East Championships, which concluded on February 16 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The men’s team won the four-day meet, while the women’s team finished second to New Hampshire.

The Retriever men have now captured 12 of the 13 championships overall and three in a row since America East reinstituted men’s swimming and diving as a championship sport in the winter of 2018. This year, the team captured 16 of 18 swimming events and amassed 1,051 points, more than 200 points ahead of second-place Binghamton.

“We knew it was one of the deepest men’s squads we have ever had,” said head coach Chad Cradock ‘97, psychology. “They came into the meet with confidence and belief in themselves.”

UMBC also received 2020 America East Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year honors. 

Leading “in every way”

UMBC senior Ilia Rattsev swept the freestyle sprints (50, 100, 200 yards). In doing so, he became the first-ever swimmer in America East history to sweep the freestyle sprints in three consecutive years. He earned the league’s David Alexander Coaches’ Award as the senior with the most points accrued at the meet. 

America East also honored Rattsev with their Elite 18 Award, which is presented to the top-achieving student-athlete at the championships. Rattsev is maintaining a 3.97 GPA in bioinformatics and computational biology.

“Ilia is a leader in every way,” Cradock said. “We are grateful for his trust in all aspects of our program. We are going to miss him and all of the seniors.”

Retriever junior Kai Wisner, mechanical engineering, earned the meet’s Most Outstanding Swimmer Award. Wisner triumphed in the 500 freestyle, 400 individual medley, and 1650 freestyle.

Freshman Niklas Weigelt took home the men’s Most Outstanding Rookie Award. The California native earned golds as part of the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays, took silver in the 200 yard freestyle, and earned bronze in the 100 freestyle.

Senior Garrett Wlochowski, financial economics, also captured multiple golds for the Retrievers, winning the 100 and 200 backstroke events. He was also part of the title-winning 200 and 400 medley relay quartets.

In addition to sharing his pride in the success of UMBC’s graduating seniors, Cradock says, “Our freshmen have already made a huge impact and they give us a lot of hope for the future.” He also notes, “Our sophomores and juniors are our future leaders. They bought in more this year and their results showed this weekend that hard work does pay off.”

Success in the pool and the classroom

On the UMBC women’s team, junior Vanessa Esposito, psychology, took home gold in the 1650 freestyle. Sophomore Caroline Sargent, psychology, earned a pair of silvers in the 100 and 200 backstroke events and a bronze in the 200 individual medley.

“We started the year losing close races, but, as the season went on, we built our confidence and were able to find the power to win the close ones and get the job done,” Cradock said.

Junior Natalija Marin earned the women’s Elite 18 award, for academic excellence. The native of Belgrade, Serbia is maintaining a 3.87 grade-point average in mechanical engineering. Marin, a three-time champion in the league championships, took home silver in the 200 butterfly in the final individual event of this year’s meet. 

“On the women’s team, we knew we had big shoes to fill after losing an amazing senior class.” Cradock said. “We found our new and returning athletes to be resilient and tough, and highly competitive. We are so proud of them.”

Cradock is quick to point out the tremendous support that he and his programs receive from the UMBC community, including university and athletics department leadership and staff, alumni, parents, and his own family.

“Your love and support does not go unnoticed by our student-athletes and our coaching staff,” says Cradock. “This family is the best, and one I am sure everyone would dream to be a part of.”

To support UMBC Swimming and Diving during Giving Day on February 27, visit givingday.umbc.edu.

Steve Levy, ‘85, interdisciplinary studies, of UMBC Athletics was the lead author for this article. For more swimming and diving coverage, see the UMBC Retrievers website.

Featured image (l-r): UMBC’s Ilia Rattsev, Jeremy Gates, Jack Carlisle, and Jethro Ssengonzi pose with the 2020 America East Championship trophy; Feb. 16, 2020; Worcester, Massachusetts. Photo by Brian Foley for America East.