In lieu of student requests and reorganization of management, Student Life and the Commons have come together to form Campus Life, an initiative that, according to officials, will better reflect the mission to attend to all students’ needs.

With over 13,000 enrolled UMBC students and a significant commuter population, there is always a need to bridge the gap between students and the optimal programs and activities going on around campus. Although the respective staffs of Student Life and the Commons have worked adjacently to facilitate these programs, the general perception, according to Campus Life Director Daniel Barnhart, was that “there is not a lot to do” at UMBC given the lack of knowledge of campus activities for non-local and commuter students.

Most complaints geared towards the Commons and the Student Life facilities also coincided with the expressed need for “reserved spaces” for student clubs and organizations to thrive, says Barnhart.

In merging Student Life with the Commons, the goal has been to “reduce redundancies” with the tasks of Student Life and the Commons, in order to create a unified goal towards helping create a better climate for students. Both organizations have held traditionally similar roles in event organization and program planning for student engagement.

The Commons is cited to have been the “front-end” of events in regards to connecting with incoming students directly, while Student Life had a larger presence “behind the scenes” of event organizing. Such examples include the two Superbowl events that Student Life raised before and during Winter Welcome week to create a fun environment for incoming transfers and returning students.

In order to create their vision for Campus Life, Student Life and the Commons came together to blend the visions and values of their organizations with inspiration from several other campuses. In the fall of 2016, Student Life visited four different campuses—among them famous regional institutions like James Madison University, Stonybrook University and Georgetown University.

The idea to merge the Commons and Student Life started during the summer of 2016. Then in the fall of 2016, the campus tours around the four regionally acclaimed institutions belied. During these tours, Student Life and the Commons “observed what [these campuses] were doing with their programs and Campus Life Services.” In January of 2017, they observed that it would be the proper time to merge, and it was no quick transformation. From January of 2017 to the summer of 2017, it was agreed that both the Commons administration and the Student Life administration would “come together once or twice a month” and discuss the necessary changes for the establishment of the unified front Campus Life.

“[We] played around with names,” stated Barnhart in response to the discussion of these meetings. But ultimately, the staff conceded with ‘Campus Life’ as befitting for the goal in mind: connecting students with campus.

Barnhart said that though this is only the beginning of Campus Life, they are “excited to be taking Campus Life in a new direction.”

In a gallery space located through a narrow alley in downtown Fredrick, artists and musicians gathered for a multidisciplinary exhibition. The event, titled “She/They”, featured works by female, non-binary and queer identifying artists. All of the event’s proceeds were donated to Heartly House, a Frederick based organization that provides help to survivors of abuse and assault.

After the gallery viewing and spoken word poetry that lasted two hours, there were musical performances. Albany-based band Lone Phone Booth set the mood of the night with their easy, laidback sound. Upon playing a song called “Wednesday,” lead singer Grace reflected on their dual role as a college student, commenting “I wrote this song about being in my dorm room on a Wednesday.”

The trio’s sound was reminiscent of Baltimore indie band, Snail Mail. What began as an average set surprised the audience when the bassist of the three-piece band Judybelle pulled out a trombone and played a melodic solo alongside the drums and guitar. This interesting twist marked the high-point of the group’s performance. Remarkably, this was the band’s first show with all three members.

After a brief intermission, Brooklyn-based band, The Great Wight, took control of the crowd. The band’s frontman Erik Garlington radiated charisma from the moment he took the mic. Between songs, he spoke easily to the audience about his experience growing up in a military family, traveling around the world and living as a queer black man in the Midwest.

At one point, he opened a can of beer then chugged it in mere seconds before smashing it to the ground. “I shouldn’t have chugged that beer, I can’t breathe now!” he laughed, towards the end of the group’s set.The group’s sound was comparable to the folk punk band The Front Bottoms (though arguably their lyricism and musicianship was better) and contained elements of mid-2000s pop punk.

Midway through the first song, drummer Elijah Watson broke his kick pedal and had to have it replaced. Besides this minor setback, his drumming abilities shone through the rest of the band’s set. In live shows, drum solos tend to be endless and overly flamboyant. However, Watson’s rhythmic solo was just long enough to wow the crowd and impeccably precise.

The Great Wight dedicated their final song, “Not Black Enough,” to the few black audience members, calling attention to the frequent lack of diversity in music spaces.

The final performance of the night was given by twin jude, a solo act. They sat cross-legged in the front of the darkened room, playing a keyboard with lit candles flickering above the keys. twin jude was a nice closing act because of their ambient trip-hop sound, much like an FKA Twigs, Abra or Grimes.

It takes skill for an artist’s music to shift the mood of the audience while fitting with the overall atmosphere of the venue. Surrounded by walls hung with colorful artwork and with the crowd close enough to touch, twin jude delivered arguably the best vibes all night.

If interested in the bands mentioned above, The Great Wight and twin jude both have albums available on bandcamp.com. Meanwhile, the music of Lone Phone Booth can be found on SoundCloud.

On the sold-out stage of Silver Spring’s The Fillmore, boyband Brockhampton played the ninth show of their Love Your Parents Tour. The stage was set rather homey, with worn couches scattered for band members to sit on stage during their set. In the fashion of a traditional boyband, the six members wore matching outfits: orange prison jumpsuits.

Brockhampton started off their performance with Boogie, the first song of their most recent album, Saturation III. Boogie is a celebration song for the group which managed to record and release three albums in the span of one year.

Although all the band members had impressive performances, it seemed that Matt Champion, vocalist, was a crowd favorite. Champion stood out because of his seemingly endless energy, combined with the deft clarity with which he performed his verses.

Also noteworthy was member ‘bearface’, who appeared on stage only to give two solo performances. Bearface was featured on every end track of Brockhampton’s three Saturation albums. His performance completely separated him from the rest of the band.

Bearface’s songs were at a slower pace than what the band had performed in the night so far. The audience responded well; holding out lighters and phone flashlights towards the singer. Halfway through his boy-on-boy love ballad, Summer, a disco ball dropped, creating a unique, surreal atmosphere.

Though Brockhampton’s stage presence was amazing, there was a lack of audience participation. Many of the band’s songs are perfectly designed for call and response, but the opportunities for audience interaction were still limited.

In several songs, the background tracks came to abrupt ends, causing confusion in the audience. Not everything the band did was well executed, but the members were in sync at all times. Besides their matching outfits, the members had planned dance moves, singing, and even lip synced each other’s verses.

Frontman Kevin Abstract often encouraged the audience to form a pit in the standing room only venue, causing a dangerous mix of commotion and excitement. Several fans had to be escorted from the crammed area around the stage. As a distraught audience member said, “It’s crazy over there. I lost my wallet and my bralette.”

With all the energy on stage and in the audience, it was surprising that Abstract was not more involved with the group’s performance. He admitted to the crowd that he had begun losing his voice due to overexertion in the days prior. Compared to the rest of the group, Abstract acted with noticeable fatigue. After only an hour, band member Ameer Vann announced to the crowd that Abstract could no longer perform due to sickness. To compensate for the lost member, Vann rapped Abstract’s verses in the last songs.

The concert’s end came quickly, leaving the audience cheering for the band to play an encore. Brockhampton’s hasty exit left the audience with about an hour-long runtime for a show that sold out in a matter of days. After the show, Abstract tweeted, “Wow that was embarrassing sorry maryland.” The band is set to finish their cross-country tour in the beginning of March.